OF CONGRESS 



□0011246434 



Copyright N?. 


COPyRtGHT DEPOSrr 









p*. 




y 

V 


A Modern Knight 

(A Trans-Atlantic Trifle) 


Daisy G. S. Holbrook 

n 


• > I 


HARTFORD, CONN. 

The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co. 

19x1 



Copyright 1911 
By Daisy G. S. Holbrook. 


©CI.A3055254 
m. r 


TO G. M. H. 

TO MY HUSBAND, WHO SUPPLIED THE TWO 
THINGS MOST NECESSARY FOR THE COMPLETION OF 
ANY LITERARY EFFORT, INSPIRATION AND ENCOUR- 
AGEMENT, I DEDICATE THIS STORY, SINCERELY HOP- 

ING THAT, ALTHOUGH IT MUST BE CLASSED WITH 
“ TRIFLES LIGHT AS AIR,” IT MAY STILL JUSTIFY ITS 
EXISTENCE BY ITS ABILITY TO WHILE AWAY AN IDLE 
AFTERNOON. 

D. G. S. H. 

Springfield, Massachusetts. 


^ t 


^ V 


*11 









« 


s 

> \ 


♦ 


t 


\ , 




I 


I 


I 




' k \ 



CHAPTER ONE. 


ETON really noticed her for the first 
time as she came into the Pullman 
at the Terminal Station, trailing 
along despondently in the wake of 
a stout, middle-aged woman and 
a most attenuated specimen of humanity 
of the masculine gender. It was merely a 
cursory glance, caught as the party passed 
his section, en route for their own next be- 
yond, and the only thing about the girl which 
at all impressed him was a pair of dark, fright- 
ened-looking eyes which stole a tiny peep in his 
direction as their owner drifted by. Then he 
proceeded to settle himself in his own seat, 
arranged a goodly number of papers and period- 
icals within comfortable reaching distance, and 
before the train had fairly pulled out of the 
station he was many miles removed from such 
trivial matters as girls with appealing brown 
eyes and grotesquely matched escorts. 

While his person was being whirled away 
upon the first stage of his journey across a con- 



A MODERN KNIGHT 


tinent which, to him, should have possessed all 
the charms of the unknown, his unruly mind 
persisted in dwelling upon the people and things 
that he had left behind him in a peaceful Eng- 
lish town, only ten days or so before. His life, 
as he looked back upon it now, seemed to have 
been a particularly uneventful one. All through 
his much-repressed childhood he appeared to 
have done the usual things, — things which were 
expected of the elder son of an old and fiercely 
aristocratic family. His little school-fellows 
had one and all deferred to him a trifle more 
than to his younger half-brother, — everyone had 
seemed to expect a greater degree of excellence 
in conduct and proficiency in study, — a finer 
show of prowess upon the athletic-field, and a few 
extra honors upon his graduation, — just because 
he happened to be Fordyce, MAJOR! He 
wondered, idly, as he had often and often done 
before, why, when this general excellence was 
always so plainly demanded and expected of the 
elder sons of his race. Nature so often endowed 
the younger brothers with a little the most 
brains, perseverance, and industry, thus render- 
ing it so difficult for the elder ones to maintain 
their supremacy. It certainly did not seem fair, 
and he lazily pondered the matter as he watched 
6 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


the long lines of telegraph-poles reel drunkenly 
past the grimy windows of the train. 

Alton Fordyce was six years the senior of 
his half-brother, Harry, and, as eldest son, direct 
heir to the title of Baronet and to the estate of 
Fairmead Park, now occupied by his father, 
James Fordyce, an elderly and feeble man, with 
only a short vista of years ahead of him. But 
with his seniority, and his consequent claim to 
the title, his superiority over his brother 
ceased, — at least in Alton’s opinion. Harry 
was so handsome, so bright, so altogether charm- 
ing in mind, manners and person, that it was 
little wonder that people should like him the 
better of the two, — (so ran Alton’s thoughts,) 
and it certainly was not at all remarkable that, 
deep down in her heart, a girl of twenty should 
prefer the fascinating, debonair Harry, only 
four years her senior, to his graver brother of 
thirty! 

It had been an unmistakable shock to him 
when he had come face to face with that pref- 
erence, crudely expressed, but in reviewing the 
matter, it had all seemed perfectly reasonable 
and natural. All his life he remembered being 
impressed with the idea that one of the many 
things he was “ expected to do ” was to some 
7 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


day marry Miss Frances Stanhope, only child of 
his father’s dearest friend, whose lands adjoined 
Fairmead on the eastern side. Just how he 
had received that impression he could not have 
told, but it had been definitely embodied in the 
atmosphere which had surrounded himi, for as 
far back as he was able to remember. As chil- 
dren, the two brothers had often quarreled over 
which should do this or that small service for 
Fanny, and whenever the older lad had been 
chosen by the girl for any of her small expe- 
ditions and plans, it had never even occurred to 
Alton that Harry’s fits of sulks could have been 
occasioned by anything more serious than child- 
ish temper. How blind he had been, he 
thought, as he went mercilessly on with his 
mental arraignment of himself! As the young 
people grew older, Frances and Alton were 
naturally thrown more and more into the society 
of each other until, when she was approaching 
the age of twenty, he had begun to urge their 
marriage, as an event long looked forward to 
and anticipated by both their families. He was 
forced to acknowledge, in looking back over the 
affair, that, obviously, he could never have really 
loved the girl, — at least not as she deserved 
and had the right to be loved, — he had always 


8 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


taken everything concerning their ultimate union 
too much for granted for that! He remem- 
bered that he had always been a little shy where 
women were concerned, and very probably this 
had prevented his knowing just how to make 
himself sufficiently indispensable to this par- 
ticular member of the sex, for it certainly seemed 
that he had failed in this one of the “ expected 
things,” even as in some of the others. 

He did not feel quite so bitterly about it 
as he had at first, although he knew that the 
girl’s white face among the tall roses in the 
dear old garden at home would live in his mem- 
ory for many a long day. They had been 
chatting together at dusk, and as they care- 
lessly rested their elbows upon the mossy old 
sun-dial, he had remarked, tentatively, “ Well, 
Fan, what do you say to our being married in 
the Autumn? ” and he felt that he would never 
be able to banish from, his remembrance her 
startled look and pleading eyes as she had vis- 
ibly withdrawn from his proffered caress, and 
buried her face in her hands, in a paroxysm of 
weeping. It had taken some very clever strategy 
on his part to gain her confidence, but at last he 
heard the whole, short and pitiful as it was, — 
how she cared for Harry and Harry loved her; 


9 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


how she had vainly endeavored to make herself 
care for Alton in that way, and, being 
thoroughly aware of the attitude of both fam- 
ilies upon the subject, how very unhappy both 
she and Harry were over the whole affair. 

To Alton’s unselfish nature it had seemed 
quite in the natural course of events that pretty 
Frances should prefer his brother, and after 
spending a full half hour in administering com- 
fort to her, he had left her divided between 
smiles and tears, with a most brotherly salutation, 
and the assurance that she should never be forced 
into a marriage with himself against her will, and 
that he would explain matters to his father for 
her. 

He was fanatically devoted to his attrac- 
tive half-brother and consequently was eager 
and willing to do anything within his power to 
promote his happiness. Therefore he had gone 
to his parent with a plain statement of the 
facts, — braved his anger at this declination 
upon the part of his son to fulfill the share of 
the long-cherished plan which devolved upon 
him, — and heard with a stony calm, but an 
uplifted soul, the irate gentleman’s forcibly 
expressed wish “ never to set eyes upon him 
again until he came to his senses I ” 

lO 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


Then he had penned a note to Harry, — a 
note brimming with affectionate good wishes 
and explanations, — said a fond adieu to the 
step-mother who had cared for him so lovingly 
since his boyhood, and of whom he was very 
fond, — collected his traveling necessities, the 
revolver which was his especial pet, — the little 
pearl-encircled miniature of the young mother 
whom he did not even remember, — and hurried 
to take his passage upon the first American- 
bound liner, heading for California, — perhaps 
Alaska, — then — he had not really decided 
where. 


CHAPTER TWO. 

UST call fo’ dinner! ” 

The cry, in the broad, 
melodious drawl of the col- 
ored race, rang through the 
car, whirling Alton Fordyce 
back with a jerk over three thousand miles 
of ocean to his immediate surroundings. 
He began to realize that he was the possessor 
of an “ aching void ” in the vicinity of his belt- 
line, so he leisurely followed the white-clothed 
negro back through several swaying Pullmans 
to the diner. It was very comfortably filled by 
the time he arrived upon the scene, and he stood 
for some time waiting for the presiding genius 
of the miniature hotel to find him a place. 

“ If you’ll wait, sir, I can give you a seat 
facing forward, in a few moments,” remarked 
that functionary, politely. Somehow, Alton 
Fordyce was a man to whom those of an in- 
ferior station usually deemed it advisable to be 
more or less deferential. 



12 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Never mind,” answered Fordyce cheer- 
fully, “ I’d just as soon ride backward.” 

“ All right, sir, — this way, sir! ” and before 
he knew it he was being installed at the table 
already occupied by the three people whom he 
had remarked upon their entrance into the train. 
He became distinctly curious about them when 
he began to appreciate what a peculiarly as- 
sorted group they were. 

The man was very tall, extremely homely, 
and thin almost to the point of emaciation. 
His chin was clean-shaven, leaving a heavy, 
drooping moustache and small side-whiskers of 
a very indeterminate shade of brown, — his eyes 
were small and grey with a look of craftiness 
about them, — his nose was hooked, — and he 
was topped off by a heavy shock of hair of the 
same color (or lack of definite color!) as his 
whiskers. He had a somewhat furtive manner 
of glancing about him which contrasted oddly 
with a rather cruel mouth and a very determined 
chin, and in spite of himself Fordyce was in- 
terested in the combination. 

The elder woman looked to be at least ten 
years her husband’s junior, and notwithstanding 
her avoirdupois, one would be at once aware 
that she was, of necessity, the least effective of 


*3 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


the two. She had thin, mouse-colored hair, 
drawn tightly back from her temples and twisted 
into a hard little knot on top of her head. Her 
face was round and plump, with a receding chin 
and a narrow and flattened forehead, and when 
she opened her eyes to their fullest extent they 
had the opaque appearance of china-blue 
marbles. Judging from the glances which she 
cast at her husband when he spoke, it was 
easy to see that she was completely under his 
domination. 

The third member of the party was clearly 
not yet out of that enchanting period, extend- 
ing approximately from fifteen to eighteen, 
when a girl has ceased to be a child, but has 
not yet arrived at the real estate of woman- 
hood ; the period when, being familiar only with 
her own shadowy world, peopled with her 
dream-ideals, she eagerly welcomes each new 
type which the great Juggler, Chance, places 
before her as one more specimen to be studied 
and added to her ever growing store of impres- 
sions. She was of medium height, slender and 
graceful, with the unstudied charm of a child, 
and Fordyce noted that except for a touch of 
white at throat and wrists she was attired with 
extreme simplicity in the deepest black, which 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


served to accentuate the fragility of her appear- 
ance. Her light brown hair fell in wavy pro- 
fusion about a broad low forehead and was 
massed in a loose knot at the back of her head, 
where it was held in place by two large-headed 
pins, the whole seeming almost too heavy for 
the slender neck and delicate, oval countenance. 

Alton was struck by her strong resemblance 
to a pretty child whom he had known at home, 
but he soon saw that where there should have 
been bright, laughing eyes and a merry, child- 
ish mouth to complete the illusion, yet neither 
one was there before him. In some indefinable 
way she impressed him as discouraged and sad, 
and he furtively studied her, behind the screen 
of his menu-card, mentally coming to the deci- 
sion that she must have been going through 
some heavy sorrow or trouble. Her dreamy, 
brown eyes seemed to have tears lurking not far 
back of their velvety depths, and there was a 
pathetic droop to the lovely mouth which com- 
ported ill with the firm compression of the red 
lips and the upward tilt of the small, round 
chin. 

“ Decidedly, an interesting specimen 1 ” 
mused Fordyce, over his dinner, as he noted the 
defiant uplifting of her shapely head, when- 
15 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


ever the masculine member of the party ad- 
dressed a remark to her, and the look of utter 
disgust and loathing with which she favored his 
unconscious head. She possessed an odd little 
trick of lifting her hand to push some straying 
tendrils of hair back from her face, which, 
somehow, was very familiar to the man sitting 
opposite her, and he racked his brain to remem- 
ber where he had ever seen it before. Suddenly 
there leaped into the forefront of his memory, 
a picture, — a green waste of tumbling waters, 
as far as the eye could reach, — a leaden sky, 
as a background, — and a slim, childish figure 
wrapped in some sort of a long, dark cloak, 
leaning against the rail of a huge, transatlantic 
liner, gazing with wide eyes over the great 
expanse of ocean, — entirely alone and utterly 
lonely, — and now and then putting up a slender 
hand to push back the hair from her face, as 
the blustering wind made havoc of what it could 
reach, under her tumed-down, felt hat. He 
had thought the little figure was that of a child 
as he had passed and re-passed it each evening 
in his own restless pacing of the deck, — but it 
must have been this girl! As he arrived at 
this conclusion he unconsciously raised his eyes, 
in order to verify his surmise, and met the gaze 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


of the brown ones opposite, turned full upon 
him. For a moment he could think of noth- 
ing so much as the expression in the eyes of a 
doe (once wounded by his hand), — an ex- 
pression which had haunted him and prevented 
his ever hunting again. In the short space in 
which their glances crossed he read fear, dislike 
and a pitiful look of hopelessness which it hurt 
him to see, — then she lowered her eyes to her 
plate and did not meet his glance again during 
the meal. 

The Englishman, having just been separated 
from all his personal Lares and Penates, was 
in a mental condition which readily permitted 
of his regarding this forlorn girl with more 
interest than, under other and happier circum- 
stances, would have been possible to his reserved 
and self-contained nature. Himself a stranger 
in a strange land, he thought of this young 
girl as a kindred spirit in his lonely trip across 
an unfamiliar continent, for he was beginning to 
appreciate that, in all this world, there is no 
sense of loneliness which can compare, in its 
intensity, with the feeling of utter isolation 
which assails the traveler in any densely pop- 
ulated section of a foreign country. In the 
midst of the roar and bustle of the busy cos- 


17 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


mopolitan life which surges around the wan- 
derer, he realizes that not one single individual, 
out of all these thronging thousands, cares one 
particle what happens to himself, and this sen- 
sation of complete detachment was heavy upon 
the mind and heart of this son of Britain as he 
steadily and relentlessly added to the number 
of miles between himself and Fairmead. 


Fordyce had lingered over his dinner and 
later, over a cigar, and when he finally returned 
to his own small domain, he found a commotion 
in the section next beyond his. The tall man 
was speaking angrily and gesticulating wildly, — 
his wife was huddled in a corner, — while both 
porter and conductor were endeavoring to pacify 
the enraged individual. Alton made out, from 
the scraps of the conversation which reached 
his ears, that through some error, the upper 
berth in their section had been sold to someone 
who was to board the train at its next stop, and 
then re-sold to the thin gentleman, and the con- 
ductor was vainly trying to straighten out the 
tangle by offering to exchange their section for 
one in another car. This would necessitate an 
early morning change, before that car should be 

i8 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


detached from the train, but it was the best they 
could do, the porter informed them. 

Fordyce, noting their predicament, rose and 
addressing the elder woman, said, with a formal 
little bow, 

“ I beg your pardon. Madam, but if it 
would be any accommodation to either of 
you two ladies, the lower berth in my section is 
at your disposal. I usually spend the greater 
part of my sleeping-car nights either in reading 
or in the observation-car, so the upper will be 
entirely sufficient for my needs ! ” 

The tall man wheeled sharply about, with 
a suspicious look in his eye. 

“What’s that? What’s that?” he de- 
manded, testily, casting uneasy glances from 
Alton to the two ladies, and back again. 

“ Beg pardon,” answered Fordyce, calmly, 
“ I said that if it would be any more convenient 
for your wife or — er — daughter, — the lower 
berth in section three is at their disposal.” 

“But Uncle, we can’t possibly do that!” 
quickly protested the young girl who had been 
gazing straight in front of her with a singularly 
detached air. It was the first time Alton had 
heard her voice, which was low and clear, seem- 
ing an integral part of its possessor. “We 
*9 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


ought not to inconvenience a stranger in this 
way! We don’t mind an early ” 

“ Be quiet, Barbara 1 ” sternly interrupted 
her uncle. “ Of course we will accept this 
gentleman’s kind offer, — and I will occupy that 
berth myself, leaving you and your aunt the 
original one. Don’t attempt to dissuade me ! ” 
(as the girl seemed about to speak) “ My mind 
is made up, — it never changes I Come, it is high 
time you were in bed, — you know you are not 
at all strong, and you have had a very trying 
day.” 

“ Insufferable cad ! ” muttered Alton to 
himself, for he felt aggrieved to think of his 
comfortable lower berth, so calmly appropriated 
by the man to whom he had taken such an unac- 
countable dislike, when his sole desire had been 
to extricate the two ladies from what had ap- 
peared to be a rather unpleasant predicament. 

The sections were speedily made up and 
Fordyce noted that some argument seemed to 
be in progress between the two elders of the 
party, who cast uneasy glances toward their 
young companion, while the girl sat with averted 
head and a mutinous-looking mouth, evidently 
awaiting the result of their colloquy. Finally 
the ladies retired to the dressing-room, and as 


20 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


they departed he heard the girl fling back, over 
her shoulder, — 

“Very well, Uncle, it is your own fault if you 
drive me to desperate measures! This is the 
last time I shall warn you, — hereafter, I shall 
act without that formality, and the consequences, 
(whatever they are!) will be upon your head! ’’ 


Alton betook himself almost immediately to 
the observation car, where he indited a long 
letter to his half-brother, a note to Frances, and 
one to his solicitors at their London address, — 
then settled himself for a long and comfortable 
evening. As he touched a match to an old and 
much battered pipe the young man commenced 
a mental summary of the events of the day, as 
was his invariable habit, and soon he was so 
deep in the puzzle of the peculiar relations of 
his three fellow-passengers that he failed to 
hear the other occupant of the platform go into 
the car, and failed again, an hour later, to hear 
the cautious re-opening of the door or the sub- 
dued sound of someone taking a seat over by 
the opposite rail. Alton’s chair was entirely in 
the dense shadow, and the newcomer, evidently 
believing herself alone, laid her head on her 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


folded arms upon the railing and gave way to 
a paroxysm of uncontrollable sobbing. 

Fordyce was too much engrossed in his own 
thoughts to notice that his solitude had been 
invaded, until he was startled by the sound of a 
smothered sigh and a sob-caught breath. 

“Great Scott!’’ thought the man, “how 
long has she been out here? ” 

He couldn’t leave now, without allowing her 
to think that he had been all this time aware of 
her presence, and perhaps, spying upon her! 
Who was she, anyway, and why on earth didn’t 
she go in and go to bed, as became a lady? 

A sudden lurch of the train caused the bowed 
head to lift, and the watching man beheld, full 
in the clear moonlight, the face of the girl with 
whom his mind had been so busily engaged. 
For a moment he was startled, — what was she 
doing there at that time of night, and alone? 
Then her words to her Uncle recurred to him, — 
“ Desperate measures, — last time I’ll warn 
you, — consequences on your own head ! ’’ 
What did it mean? Plainly the child was un- 
happy, — could it be that she was meditating 
anything rash, — such as making away with her- 
self, for instance? She certainly looked a mere 
child to him, in her clinging, black train-negligee. 


22 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


and he could not believe she was more than a 
child. While these thoughts had been racing 
through his head, the train dashed out upon a 
spidery bridge, spanning a swiftly running river, 
and the girl stepped quickly toward the rail 
while Fordyce made a rapid stride forward, to 
be ready in case of emergency. 

The girl looked up, startled by the sudden 
apparition, and her hand flew to her heart while 
she swayed heavily against the rail, and gasped 
out, 

“ What do you — what are you doing 
here? ” 

“ Exactly what I wished to ask you,” re- 
turned Fordyce, quietly, placing a chair for her 
and forcing her gently back into it, while his 
hand remained, for a moment, reassuringly 
upon her shoulder. 

There was a long period of silence. Alton 
was never a very talkative man, and the girl 
seemed to be trying to make up her mind to 
speak. 

“ I’m not merely curious,” volunteered Al- 
ton, at length, “ please don’t think that! And 
please don’t feel obliged to tell me anything you 
would rather not, — but perhaps I might be able 
to help you in some way, you know ! ” 


n 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ I don’t believe you could, though I’m 
very grateful for the thought,” replied the girl, 
in a queer, level little voice. “ I fear I am 
beyond outside help, now.” 

Her tone was so absolutely lifeless and she 
looked so forlorn and altogether pathetic that 
Alton felt a strange lump rise in his throat at 
the hopelessness of her. He wondered what 
her trouble could be, and how she happened to 
be out there at midnight, alone? Visions of 
kidnappers and child-stealers flashed through 
his brain, but in the same instant he decided 
against them. She was far too self-possessed 
for that, and besides, she had owned to kinship 
with both her fellow-travelers, — that he had 
heard with his own ears! He debated within 
himself whether or not he ought to insist upon 
some sort of an explanation, — and deep down 
in his inner consciousness he realized that he felt, 
in some indefinable way, strangely drawn toward 
this slip of a maiden, with the sad eyes and the 
air of having passed through stormy waters. 

He waited quietly, still standing guard over 
the rail, his tall, massive form looming up huge 
and black against the silvery landscape, outside, 
while his calm gaze surveyed the flying pano- 
rama, and the silence seemed to invite his 
companion to relieve her mind of its burden. 

24 


CHAPTER THREE. 


URELY you were not thinking 
of ” he gave a shudder- 

ing glance at the rail as he 
spoke and her eyes followed 
his. 

“ Oh, no,” she answered, simply, “ I’m not 
brave enough for that! ” 

A great wave of pity swept over Alton 
Fordyce. He leaned down from his station 
near the rail and placed one large, protective 
hand over the two clasped listlessly in her lap. 
“ You poor child, — poor, troubled little girl,” 
he said gently: “ Wouldn’t it do you good to 
tell what’s bothering you? ” 

She smiled wanly up at him but made no 
effort to withdraw her hands from his clasp for 
several moments. 

“ I’m so ashamed to look you in the face 
after what happened about the berth,” she said 
at last, with a ghost of a smile, “ I just couldn’t 
sleep 1 ” 



25 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“For worry about that?’’ he asked, fol- 
lowing her lead. It was borne in upon his mas- 
culine intellect that she was a child in her mental 
processes, and that unless she was permitted to 
take her own time and way in the telling there 
would never be anything told, at all. 

“ Partly that,” she answered, musingly. 
“ And Uncle never even thanked you as he 
should have done.” 

“ That was entirely unnecessary ! I saw that 
it helped you ladies out of a beastly hole, and 
was jolly glad to do it, — so don’t let that worry 
you one bit, please 1 ” 

The girl gave him a grateful look, and after 
an interval of silence, exclaimed, 

“ Oh ! When I think of everything, I wish 

I had the courage to ” a quick glance at 

the rail completed the sentence as clearly as 
words could have done. 

“ Child! child! ” expostulated Alton, “you 
don’t know what you are saying ! The greatest 
coward on this earth is the person who takes 
his or her own life, don’t you realize that? It 
requires bravery to live and to force a recog- 
nition from that fickle goddess. Fate ! ” Then 
as if he wished to divert her mind and turn her 
thoughts into other channels, he finished, whim- 
36 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


sically: “ I think women are really much braver 
than men, don’t you? ” 

“ I’m not a child,” she returned,” truly I’m 
not, and you’ve called me that several times. 
And why do you consider women the braver? ” 

“ Well, since you object to being called a 
child, don’t you think that, as a woman, you are 
showing bravery in defying Mrs. Grundy, and 
talking to a strange man in the wee small hours 
of the night, on the observation platform of a 
train, with only the moon for a chaperone? ” 

“ You’re not a strange man,” returned she, 
naively, “ I saw you on the steamer every day, 
somewhere, and the stewardess said you were a 
perfect gentleman.” 

Alton positively grinned to himself in the 
darkness. Heavens I What an inexperienced 
infant she was, in spite of all her assertions to 
the contrary. And she insisted that she was not 
a child, — yet she considered him “ not a strange 
man ” because, forsooth, she had spent six days 
and nights on the same ship which harbored 
him, and because the stewardess had character- 
ized him as “ a perfect gentleman.” He won- 
dered if she did not know that anyone who had 
favored a steward or his feminine counterpart 
with a sufficiently sizable gratuity would have the 


27 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


doubtful distinction of being considered a “ per- 
fect gentleman ” by either of those worthies ! 
But loath to shake her childlike faith in the 
world which she knew so slightly, he only 
answered, 

“ A gentleman, surely, — I hope, though far 
enough from perfect! Perhaps it would help 
to make matters a little more conventional if I 
were to introduce myself, — Alton Fordyce, — 
late of Fairmead, Surrey, England, — disin- 
herited, — now of — well, it remains to be seen 
where! Now, if you wish to be considered a 
‘ perfect lady ’ you must tell me about your- 
self!” 

The girl eyed him seriously for several 
moments. 

“ My name is Barbara Walton,” she replied, 
simply, ” and it won’t take very long to tell you 
all about myself. What do you particularly 
wish to know? ” 

“ First, — how do you come to be in this 
position? ” 

“You mean out here, at night, — with 
you? ” 

Alton had not meant that, literally, but he 
deemed it wiser to let it go at that, merely nod- 
ding his head in affirmation. 

38 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Well, you see, Aunt Eva was made to 
share my berth, so I would not be able to do 
anything without their knowing it, — and she’s 
worn out from her trip, — sd, when she was 
sleeping soundly (I made her lie on the inside 
so she would get more air on her poor head,) 
I slipped out. I didn’t think anyone would be 
out here so late and — oh, I just can’t bear it! ” 
She drew a little sobbing breath before she came 
to the end of her explanation. 

Fordyce was thoroughly nonplussed. “ Why 
aren’t you allowed to be alone? ” he finally in- 
quired. 

“ Because they’re afraid I’ll talk to people.” 

” Then they wouldn’t approve of your talk- 
ing to me? ” 

” Oh, you least of all, — you’re a man! ” 

The look of complete bewilderment upon the 
Englishman’s face momentarily deepened, until 
he could restrain himself no longer, and burst 
out with, 

“ My dear child, — you are more of a 
Chinese puzzle than you realize, I think I 
Don’t you suppose it would make it all clearer 
to me if you should tell me about it, in your own 
way, straight from the beginning, without my 
asking questions? ” 


29 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


The girl shook her head a trifle but replied, 
simply, “ I’ll try.” 


“ I’ll try to tell you,” she continued, after 
a long pause, “ although it isn’t an easy thing 
to put into words.” This was followed by a 
sigh and an appealing glance, as if to ask him 
to make allowances for her. “ This only began 
about eight months ago, when Mother and Dad 
were both killed in that awful railroad wreck, 
and I was left alone in the convent in France. 
You see. Mother and Dad had to live in a little 
western mining-town called Laredo, on account 
of Dad’s health, — and they didn’t think it a 
proper place in which to bring up a young girl, 
so I’ve been in the convent in Bon Air ever since 
I was ten years old. They always spent six 
weeks of every Autumn with me, though, and 
I have been home to Laredo to visit — three 
times. I loved it there at the convent, — it was 
so sweet and peaceful, — and when the news 
came about the accident, I was so alone and 
miserable that I agreed to the Superior’s prop- 
osition that I become a nun, and never leave 
them. I was just about to enter the first week 
of my novitiate when I received a letter from 


30 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


this uncle, whom I never even knew existed, say- 
ing that in a little while, he and my Aunt Eva 
would come over for me, as soon as they were 
all settled in their new home in Butte. I was 
just dreadfully glad that anyone should want 
me, and of course I was pleased and flattered at 
what Uncle wrote about wanting me to brighten 
up their quiet household, and I resolved to do 
my very best to make them love me, when, like 
a bolt from a clear sky, came the intelligence that 
when I came home with them it would be to 
marry their son, at once. I guess I was a little 
bit dazed, at first, — I couldn’t see any reason 
for such a hurry about it, — but I found out 
from Sister Theresa that Dad had left an im- 
mense fortune, and then one of the older girls 
said that they probably wanted to keep the 
money in the family, and that was the only way 
they could see to do it! And besides, I don’t 
want to be married, anyway, — I hate the very 
idea ! ” 

“ Poor child,” murmured Fordyce, sym- 
pathetically. “ How old are you, anyway, if one 
may be permitted to ask that question of one of 
your sex? ” 

“ I’m eighteen, — nineteen, next week, on 
my wedding-day,” answered Barbara, bitterly. 

3 * 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


As the man failed to vouchsafe any further com- 
ment she continued, “ They came for me, as 
you see, and have never taken their eyes off me 
since. I always have one or the other with me, 
and they sing Cousin John’s praises all day long, 
until I hate his very name ! On the steamer I 
did manage to speak to someone who was a 
lawyer, but before I could find out how far they 
could force my consent, here in America, they 
came on deck and discovered me, and since then 
Uncle has made Aunt Eva even sleep with me. 
I suppose this is the last free time I will have 
until afterwards, — till I am safely married, and 
oh! I am so afraid! ” 

“ Afraid of what, — marriage, or Cousin 
John? ” inquired Alton, mechanically, his mind 
busy with a problem in social economics. 

“ Both,” exclaimed his companion. “ Oh, 
can’t you see, or is it because you’re a man that 
you can’t understand? How do I know that 
Cousin John is really nice ? Or that I could even 
like him? Or that he would be good to me? I 
think he only wants my horrid money, anyway ! 
I don’t know any men, — you’re the first man I 
ever really talked to, alone. Cousin John 
writes such horrid, common letters, and I do not 
like them! Oh, it would be so easy to escape 

32 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


the whole thing by just going over there, — ” 
(nodding to the rail,) “ if I were really brave I 
Please don’t look so horrified, — there is nobody 
to care particularly, — you see I don’t know any- 
body but the convent sisters and this Uncle and 
Aunt.” 

“ Hush, little girl! ” broke in Alton, reprov- 
ingly. “ Don’t you even think such a wicked 
thing again I And do not say that there is no 
one to care, for you have interested me, tre- 
mendously, and I care, if nobody else does! 
I wonder if you cannot realize. Miss Walton, 
that you have made me a whole lot less lonely 
by confiding in me and giving me something to 
think about besides my own unprofitable self? 
I assure you I was heartily sick of that subject 
when you arrived upon the scene! It takes the 
sting out of one’s own loneliness to feel that 
one is needed, even if only as an outlet for bot- 
tled-up feelings.” 

The girl watched him intently but said 
nothing. “ Do you think you could steal 
away, to-morrow night, like this, and give me a 
chance to think this problem over a bit? I 
will do my level best to think up some way 
to rescue you from Cousin John, — believe me, 
I will ! 


3 


33 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


He held out his hand and she frankly gave 
him hers, — a cold little hand which he held 
in both his own as he added, “ Now, good-night, 
little girl, and if you don’t come to me to- 
morrow evening I will find some way to com- 
municate with you. Get a little rest now, and 
don’t despair, — we’ll outwit them yet, never 
fear ! Au revoir I ” 

When she had disappeared he sank back in 
his chair, lost in a profound reverie. What a 
child she was, in her innocent simplicity, — per- 
fectly unconscious that there was anything at 
all out of the way in her spending two-thirds 
of the night on the observation platform of a 
trans-continental train, talking to a strange man ! 
And her dislike of Cousin John — how absurd 
and childish — and yet she meant it, every word. 
Although not of an emotional or highly-strung 
temperament himself, Fordyce realized that 
underneath it all lay her feminine dread of 
marriage as a concrete fact, and the fear of 
what the future might hold for her of weal or 
woe. He puzzled over how he could help her 
until his brain seemed actually numb and refused 
to be goaded into any further activity, and as he 
once more lighted his pipe he remarked to the 
soft, enveloping darkness, 


34 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ I declare, I don’t see how anyone is to help 
her, short of marrying her, offhand, themselves. 
Why, I believe she’d marry even me, as an es- 
cape from Cousin John ! Once married, I defy 
anyone to make her miserable.” 

He lingered in the neighborhood of this 
last idea, turning it over and over in his mind, 
and wondering if it could, in any way, be made 
a feasible solution of her difficulty. Why 
shouldn’t he help her in that way, if it really 
seemed to be the only available one? She had 
trusted him (a perfect stranger!) to find some 
method of assistance, — would she trust him 
enough to marry him, he wondered? And then 
he could take her away to some distant city and 
settle her in a home of her own (he had no 
other attachment!) — and perhaps, in time, she 
might come to love him as he felt he could very 
easily care for her. If not, — well, there were 
ways of having a marriage such as theirs an- 
nulled or set aside, and when she became of age 
and was able to look out for herself, she could 
be released. Anyway, he had grave doubts as 
to whether a marriage in name only would be 
strictly legal and binding if anyone should see 
fit to make a test case of it. 


35 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


His unemotional British heart had been 
stirred more deeply than he cared to admit, by 
the girl’s story and her helpless winsomeness, 
and he felt certain that he could play the part 
which Fate had, to all appearances, marked out 
for him in her destiny, if only the girl herself 
should prove willing to take the chances. 


After an all-day mental session over the 
pros and cons of his daring proposition, he was 
relieved to find the girl and her two guardians 
still in the same car with him after the change 
and the rather tedious wait at Chicago, but as 
the evening waned he began to despair of her 
coming out to him, and he had just ascertained 
the time to be twenty minutes after twelve when 
his ear caught the soft rustle of silken draperies, 
and he looked up to see her close beside him. 

“Well?” she inquired, with naive frank- 
ness, as she gave him her hand, “ can you save 
me? Have you thought of anything? Or 
must it be Cousin John? ” 

To gain time to put his proposition before 
her in the least alarming manner, and because, 
in his day’s deliberation over her case he had 
come to feel an almost proprietary interest in 
36 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


the girl herself, he parried her question with 
another. 

“ Do you know what time it is? ” 

“ I couldn’t get out any earlier,” she replied. 
‘‘ You said to come whenever I could get away, 
didn’t you? ” 

“ Yes, but it is so very late, and people might 
talk about you — ” 

As he uttered the banal remark he had a 
sudden realizing sense of how it must make him 
appear to the girl at his side, under the existing 
circumstances, and heartily did he wish the 
words unsaid, the instant they had passed his 
lips. The girl looked at him for a full minute 
with a childish, unwinking gaze which brought 
the blood to his cheeks, — then her face clouded 
and she said in a troubled tone, 

“ But you said — ” 

“ I know I said it! ” almost snapped 
Fordyce, as he moved a chair for her, a little 
back in the shadow. “ Forgive me, child, if I 
am not very consistent and if my ideas seem to 
lack coherence, for I have been cudgelling my 
poor brains for nearly the entire twenty-four 
hours, in a vain effort to let a little daylight in 
upon your queer predicament 1 ” 

37 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“A vain effort! ” repeated his companion, 
apathetically. “ That means that you can see 
no way out? ” 

“ Pardon me, — it means that I can see no 
reasonable and conventional way out, — I can 
see one way, but frankly, it is a very peculiar 
and unconventional one, and I am a little afraid 
of how you will regard it. I will tell you about 
it as soon as you have answered a few necessary 
questions, — and you won’t mind if I seem a bit 
inquisitive, will you?” 

“ No, indeed, — you are only too kind to 
try to help me.” 

“ First, then, — you don’t ‘ hit it off ’ very 
well with these relations, do you? ” 

“ I certainly do not get along with them, if 
that is what you mean! ” 

“ Exactly, only your manner of expressing 
it is much superior to mine! And you say you 
have absolutely no other relatives, — no one who 
might reasonably resent the rather drastic in- 
terference of a total stranger? ” 

“ No one, — I really have no friends except 
the convent sisters, and the old foreman on 
Daddy’s ranch.” 

“ Well, you can’t go back to the convent, 
that’s sure, — because this uncle would simply 
38 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


come and take you out again if he is as set upon 
this marriage as he appears to be. You can 
readily understand that? ” 

“Of course I know that I couldn’t go back 
there, — and there isn’t one soul to advise me, 
so you see you will have to usurp the role of a 
father to me and tell me very frankly what to 
do, if you will be so good ! ” 

Alton squirmed inwardly, at the implication 
of such a preponderance of years as her uncon- 
scious placing of him as a contemporary of her 
Father seemed to denote, but he mastered his 
incipient burst of irritation just in the nick of 
time and continued, 

“ I am afraid it could hardly be considered 
the role of a father. Miss Walton, for I doubt 
if even the most irresponsible of parents could 
cook up as hair-brained a scheme as that which 
has been evolved in my mind today ! I will tell 
you all about it as soon as you have answered 
one or two more questions. You have never 
seen this cousin of yours, you say? ” 

“ No, only his picture.” 

“ Yet you feel so sure you won’t like him? ” 
“ Perfectly sure ! I know I shall hate 
him!” 

“ Why so certain? ” 


39 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Because, if he is the kind of man he must 
be to have Uncle and Aunt so wrapped up in 
him, I know I never could stand him for a 
moment! ” 

Alton smiled. She certainly was unsophisti- 
cated! He was conscious of an odd sense of 
warmth pervading him as he caught himself 
thinking that she would be a very dear little 
person to await one’s nightly homecoming, and 
to speed one on one’s way to business in the 
mornings. 

“ One more question,” ended Alton, “ do 
you like me, — even a little bit? Can you bring 
yourself to trust me on such short acquaintance, 
do you think? ” 

“ Two questions ! ” smiled the girl, eager- 
eyed. “ I do like you a lot, you are so strong 
and kind to me ! And I am perfectly sure you 
are to be trusted, — you look that kind ! Why? ” 

“ Because, as you seem to be ‘ at the end 
of your rope ’ as they say in this benighted 
country, — and as there seems to be no other 
way out of this mess for you, — (at least none 
which would not require more or less time, 
which is the one article we appear to be rather 
short of in this case, ) — will you marry me, 
instead of Cousin John? ” 


40 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


The eyes of the girl suddenly widened, and 
as she rested her chin on her palm and appeared 
to fall into a reverie, Alton hastened to add, 
“ Truly, it is the only way I can see. Miss 
Walton! And before you hasten to answer in 
the negative, let me tell you a little about my 
scheme, as I mapped it out in my mind, last 
night. I’m a whole lot older than you.” 
(Barbara nodded, musingly!) “Perhaps I 
appear really old, in your eyes, — ” (There 
was no sign from his listener, as he half feared 
there would be, though he paused, perceptibly.) 
“ Really, I am only thirty, — disinherited, it is 
true for the present, but with the tidy sum of 
nearly sixty thousand pounds in good, safe 
investments, in my own right. That is nearly 
three hundred thousand dollars of your Amer- 
ican money, you know, so you can’t think me 
merely a vulgar fortune-hunter, in need of your 
money, — I have no other attachment of any 
sort, — not one single soul in the world de- 
pendent upon me, — and frankly, I wish you 
would marry me ! It is not good for any man 
or woman to live entirely alone, and I need an 
anchor to windward, myself, lest I merely drift 
with the current as so many men do, — to their 
eternal sorrow ! You’re not of age, and in this 


41 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


enlightened era you could not hope to remain 
successfully hidden for two whole years, could 
you? If you will do me the honor of becom- 
ing my wife, I can at least protect you from all 
active annoyance, and I may be able to frus- 
trate any designs which these relatives may have 
formulated regarding your money. If you can 
trust yourself to me, I will give you every pos- 
sible care, — and if, in time, you can learn to 
like me enough so that we can be congenial 
chums, I could even be satisfied with that. You 
will be as free as the air you breathe, but it 
will be a brave person who dares to meddle with 
the happiness or affairs of Mrs. Alton For- 
dyce, — and do you know, I have grave doubts 
as to whether Uncle’s long suit is bravery of 
any description, — moral or physical ! ” 

Alton terminated what was, for him, a tre- 
mendously long speech, with a touch of the 
ludicrous, hoping thereby to break the spell of 
the girl’s musing, for all the time he had been 
speaking, she had peered out at the flying land- 
scape with unseeing eyes, and he was now in 
some perplexity to decide whether she had heard 
and understood his words, so inattentive had 
been her manner. 


42 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Why are you doing this? ” she asked, at 
length, without once moving or glancing up at 
the man as he stood before her, the picture of 
doubting hesitancy. “ If it is only to help me, 
you are wonderful, — and it can’t be for your- 
self, because you get no benefit, that I can see, — 
only added responsibilities! I can’t see why 
you want to help me at such cost to yourself. 
Why do you? ” 

“ If you choose to, you may put it that I 
am interested in checkmating any deviltry which 
Uncle may have up his sleeve, — (I don’t take 
to Uncle a little bit, somehow!) and also that 
I would like to help you out of what begins to 
look like an extremely nasty predicament. You 
say that you like me a little, — I admit that I 
am strongly attracted to you, — so far, — good ! 
Won’t you let me take those responsibilities of 
this step, about which you are worrying, upon 
my own shoulders? It will simplify matters 
amazingly, and when you come of age (if you 
wish it, then,) our marriage of convenience can 
be annulled, — a marriage in name only, can 
easily be set aside, I am very sure, — a sort of 
partnership, for business reasons, you see! ” 

There was a pause of several moments, 
which seemed at least an hour to Alton, before 


43 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


she looked up and extended her hand to him, 
saying, soberly, 

“ I will agree, upon one condition, — if you 
ever have the faintest desire to be released 
before I am of age, you will honestly tell me 
SO. 

Fordyce nodded his head emphatically, as 
he took the little hand, and holding it closely 
between both his own he said, softly, “ You are 
doing a very brave as well as a very unusual 
thing, little girl, and I give you my solemn word 
of honor that you will never have cause to regret 
it through any word or act of mine ! Now, for 
our plans ! How can we manage to be married 
before you reach your destination ? Are you to 
stop off anywhere? ” 

“ Uncle said F might stop over in Salt Lake 
City, to buy some clothes for my trousseau, — 
but I told him I wouldn’t buy any for the world, 
so he is to stop over and I suppose Aunt Eva 
and I are to wait for him at some place where 
we change cars for Butte. He said he ex- 
pected some important mail to meet him there at 
Salt Lake, and he was quite put out because we 
didn’t care to wait there for him.” 

“ Salt Lake, — h’m-m ! That’s pretty good 
for our cause, I can tell you! Now, all you 


44 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


have to do is to say that you have changed your 
mind about the clothes, — and stop over there 
and go shopping with Aunt Eva, — buy the pret- 
tiest trousseau you can pick out (Mrs. Alton 
Fordyce will need a tremendous number of pretty 
things, I assure you!) and then give Auntie the 
slip at some specified time, and meet me at a 
place I will manage to let you know about, later 
on. I think I know of someone in the city who 
will be able to help us. Will you be able to carry 
it out, do you think? ” 

The girl had been regarding him steadily, 
with wide eyes, and now she simply nodded her 
head in assent and waited for him to continue. 
Then, appearing to think of something far from 
pleasant, her face clouded and her smooth fore- 
head wrinkled as she ventured, timidly, 

“ Will you care if the — the trousseau isn’t 
very pretty? You spoke of it so particularly, — 
and it might not be pretty, you know, because 
Uncle won’t like it if we spend much money on 
it, — and Aunt Eva will do the choosing for 
me, anyway. She said so, — and her taste is 
a little peculiar, to say the least.” She stopped 
in pretty confusion, and hung her head, shyly. 

” Of course I shall care what kind of clothes 
my wife wears, — I’m jolly particular about 
45 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


such things, — but please don’t let that worry 
you! Let her pick out whatever she likes for 
you, and then if you and I don’t like ’em, we’ll 
just pitch the whole accumulation to the dogs, 
and go out and buy a new lot, — together, — 
later! How about that? ” 


While his lips were busy with these banter- 
ing speeches his mind was working with a 
lightning-like rapidity, and he was thinking 
how sweet and attractive she looked in her 
embarrassment, and what an insufferable cad was 
Uncle. Probably the child did not have one 
cent which she could call her own, — and among 
the shopping expenses there would be cab-fares 
and so forth, to reach their as yet unchosen 
meeting-place. He would give her some money, 
at once, — but, could he ? He bethought him- 
self that he must feel his way carefully before 
offering her any pecuniary assistance. With 
her sensitive temperament he knew that she 
would refuse to take anything from him, for her 
own sake, but if he could only put it in the 
light of a favor to himself, he felt almost sure 
that he could persuade her to do as he wished. 
If he could only think, — but wait! Suddenly 
46 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


there popped into his head an old-time fancy 
of his earlier years, and he gave a genuine 
laugh of relief, as he said, 

“ Do you know, I’ve always cherished the 
idea that when I came to marry (if I ever did) , 
I would persuade my fiancee to allow me to give 
her her wedding-gown, — but it doesn’t look as 
if you would be able to wait for a real bridal- 
robe, does it? But I am going to give you 
something to spend for me, and I want you to 
buy anything you like with it, — just so I can 
have some share in your pre-nuptial shopping. 
Will you do it to please me? ” 

Barbara flushed crimson, and protested. 

“ You know perfectly well that you are only 
doing this because you think I have no money, 
and that I am too proud to ask Uncle for any, — 
now, aren’t you? ” 

Fordyce gazed down upon her in mock dis- 
may, exclaiming fearfully, “ Great Caesar’s 
Ghost! Who would ever suppose that such a 
harmless little person as you appear to be could 
turn out to be a witch and a mind-reader? It 
does not augur very well for our peaceful future, 
does it? But, all joking aside, will you take 
it? It would please me more than you know! 
You see, I shall not be able to give you a real 
47 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


wedding-gift (not the one I would like to, at 
least, ) until I can get the news back to England, 
so please buy something for a keepsake until I 
can send across the water. I really wish you 
would! ” 

There was a wistful tone in the man’s voice 
which touched a responsive chord in the lonely 
girl’s being, and which impelled her to answer, 

“ I would rather not, — but I’ll do it if you 
insist! ” 

“ I do insist! ” returned Fordyce, quick to 
see that his point was nearly gained. “ And 
while I am in the mood for confessing, I may as 
well tell you that the only thing I regret about 
this hurried wedding is the lack of the usual 
white satin and orange-blossoms. Another pet 
delusion gone to smash ! Please don’t laugh at 
me, but I’ve always had a hazy idea that orange- 
blossoms were a necessary adjunct to a wed- 
ding, — the kind of thing which one could no 
more be married without than without one’s 
gloves, for instance, or one’s shoes, — and I 
think the only other really sentimental notion 
I have ever entertained has been about having 
my bride in conventional attire, — but we will 
have to forego that, too, so cheer up! Now I 
must send you off to bed, for it is very late (or 
•48 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


rather, early ! ! ) and prospective brides should 
have rosy cheeks, you know I Can you get 
away in the morning, long enough to write a 
letter? ” 

“ Yes, right after breakfast, — to Sister 
Theresa, — why? ” 

“ Good ! Then, early in the morning, 
before you are even up, I will slip a magazine 
into the lowest drawer of the corner writing- 
table, and in it I hope to have you find all the 
necessary information and directions. Now,” 
drawing a hand from his pocket with something 
crumpled up inside it, “ here’s my contribution 
to the shopping excursion, — and good-night, 
my little bride-to-be. Leave everything to me, 
and don’t you worry one bit ! I have a scheme 
at the back of my head, and you’ll find its 
result in your magazine in the morning.” 

Alton bent over her and lifted one slim hand 
reverently to his lips, — then gently raised her 
from her chair and watched her slip back into 
the car with something very like a sigh. It was 
going to be mighty hard not to become unduly 
fond of the shy, trusting little thing, who was so 
confiding and who depended upon him so com- 
pletely, — and he caught himself thinking what 
a Heaven upon earth would be their home, — a 


4 


49 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


real home indeed, — if she could ever learn to 
care for him as he now felt only too miserably 
certain that he should care for her. 

“ But this is wasting valuable time,” he 
muttered to himself as he rose and set out in 
search of the porter. “ Those things can be safely 
left to the care of the Future. Now for a tel- 
egraph-blank, and ‘ confusion to all cads,’ be 
they Uncles, Aunts or Cousin Johns, — it’s all 
one to me ! ” 


50 


CHAPTER FOUR. 


A 


T 


six o’clock that same morning, 
Alton Fordyce, not having been 
to bed at all, was seated in the 
reading-room of the steadily flying 
train, putting the finishing touches 


to the last item of a busy four hours work. 


Item one, — had been to forcibly extract, 
from a very sleepy porter, the information that 
there was a telegraph-stop about an hour’s ride 
ahead on the main line, and that messages could 
be sent from there, if necessary. 

Item two, — had been the following message, 
put into the protesting porter’s hand with a fee, 
whose proportions had caused that dusky-hued 
personage to open his eyes to their fullest extent, 
and impressed upon him, most thoroughly, the 
importance of sending that particular message, 
anyway. 


51 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


On board train 157. 

Southern R. R. 

To 

Rev. A. A. Allerton, 

47 Jarvis Road, Salt Lake City, 
Utah. 

Am arriving Wednesday eleven, 
with fiancee. Wish you to marry us. 
Make arrangements for us, so there 
will be no slip. Don’t worry, will 
explain when meet you at station. 
Things all O. K. Answer at once to 
Groverton, on board this train. 

Fordyce, major. 


Item three, — had been a letter to his father, 
to be posted after the ceremony, and couched in 
the following terms, — 

Salt Lake City, Utah. 
Dear Father, 

In spite of your forcibly expressed 
wish never to see or hear of me again, 
until, as you so succinctly phrased it, 

‘ I should come to my senses,’ still it 
may interest you to hear that, by the 
time this reaches you at Fairmead, I 
shall be married to a dear, sweet little 
girl who does not seem at all afraid 
to entrust her happiness to your worth- 
less (!) son. I will refrain from 

52 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


giving you any particulars, as just at 
the present juncture I fear they would 
have no interest for you, but please 
give my dear love to the Mater, and 
say to her that I know she will love 
Barbara, and that she may rest as- 
sured that I have done nothing in any 
way unworthy of the Fordyce name. 

Your son, Alton. 

Item four, — had been more of a task, but 
at last it had been satisfactorily accomplished. 
It was a long letter to Frances Stanhope, giv- 
ing a detailed and accurate account of all the 
incidents leading up to his impending marriage, 
a full description of Barbara, as well as a synop- 
sis of her story, and asking her to communicate 
with him, via Jarvis Road, as his future address 
was still uncertain, and tell him how his family 
bore the news. He also requested her to put 
his step-mother in possession of all the circum- 
stances, as he had related them to her, but to 
tell no one else ,not even Harry, anything save 
the bare fact that he was married. 

By the time this writing was finished they 
were drawing into the station at Groverton 
where there was a short wait to permit the 
shifting of mail and express-cars, and to replen- 
53 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


ish the water-tanks. As he had hoped, there 
was a telegram awaiting him at the tiny mud- 
colored office, — a message brief but compre- 
hensive, — over which the big man smiled remi- 
niscently. It read, — 

Alton Fordyce, Esq. 

On board S. R. train 157. 

Station Groverton. 

Will meet you with necessary papers. 

Don’t understand, but am willing to 

take chance on your say so. 

Allerton. 


It was five o’clock when the train was well 
under way once more and Dawn was fast turn- 
ing the dull gray of early morning into a rosy, 
pinkish glow when Fordyce leaned back and sur- 
veyed with a contented look a letter which was 
spread out before him. It was to the girl who 
was so soon to be his wife and had cost him 
unlimited thought and worry, for the big, boy- 
ish Englishman was not an adept at clothing his 
thoughts in their adequate garb of correct 
rhetoric, and he had found it very hard to ex- 
press his exact meaning in cold black and white. 
But at last it was finished and he enclosed it 
in its envelope with a tender little smile. This, 
54 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


with a copy of his message to his old friend, and 
his reply he slipped in between the pages of a 
magazine in the lower drawer of the writing- 
table and then fell into a reverie over the answer 
to his wire, — how characteristic it was of his old- 
time chum. What a stupendous piece of luck 
that Arthur should have settled in Salt Lake 
City, and how like him to accept his old friend’s 
word that everything was all right and to back 
him up like that! Good old Arthur! He 
would be waiting when the train pulled in, and 
he wondered if ten years had made much dif- 
ference in the quiet, reserved man whom he had 
continually teased and tormented, in years past, 
for his shyness and lack of “ push.” He re- 
membered vaguely having heard that he had 
married, but when or whom he could not now 
recall, if, indeed, he had ever known, — and 
then their lives had drifted as far apart as the 
two poles, — as far apart as needs must the 
lives of two men whose temperaments and life- 
works are cut from widely differing patterns. 
At long intervals a cable or a written greeting 
had been exchanged, usually containing one or 
the other’s change of address, but beyond 
that, — silence. 


55 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


At breakfast Fordyce tried, without avail, to 
catch the eye of Barbara Walton, but she never 
once raised her eyes from her plate and he was 
most freezingly ignored by the rest of her party. 
Once he heard the clear, girlish voice raised a 
trifle, as if for his benefit, remark distinctly, 

“ I’ve changed my mind about Salt Lake, 
Uncle! Auntie and I will go shopping and 
take the night train with you. If one must be 
married, whether one likes it or not, one might 
as well look as little like a fright as possible ! ” 
A few moments later, as they passed out of 
the car he caught the words, 

“ I’m going to write a note to Sister Theresa, 
now. Aunt Eva, — any messages? ” 

Alton would have dearly loved to take a 
seat in the reading-room and watch her, sur- 
reptitiously, as she perused the contents of the 
periodical which was awaiting her in the little 
desk, but he felt that, under the peculiar cir- 
cumstances, it would be more than a little 
indelicate upon his part, so he was forced to 
continue his way regretfully toward his section, 
to gather up his belongings, preparatory to 
leaving the train. 

It was over an hour before Barbara appeared 
with her letter to the Sister in her hand, and a 
56 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


faint, pink flush mantling her cheeks. Alton 
had never beheld such a look as he received 
when their eyes met for the fraction of a 
second, — a mingling of immeasurable relief and 
complete trust, and he could almost have sworn 
that there was a tiny glimmer of a dawning 
personal interest in himself shining through the 
mist of tears which suddenly veiled their bright- 
ness, as her glance reluctantly fell away from 
his own. She appeared more nearly like other 
care-free, happy young girls than she had 
seemed since she had first crossed his path, and 
he appreciated that with a normal amount of 
happiness and loving care, she would blossom 
into a wonderfully attractive specimen of 
womanhood. 

As her eyes turned away from him and the 
ghost of a smile faded from her lips, Alton, 
though not by any means what the world would 
consider a deeply religious man, breathed an 
unconscious petition that he might prove truly 
worthy of her great trust, and that, in time, the 
overflowing Cup of Happiness might be held to 
their lips. 


57 


CHAPTER FIVE. 


S Barbara Walton seated herself at 
the comer desk in the reading- 
room she noticed, with a throb of 
gratitude, that Aunt Eva had per- 
mitted herself to be enticed into 
the opposite corner of the small room by a 
pile of French fashion journals and had settled 
down contentedly with the length of the car 
between herself and her charge. As the girl 
opened the drawer, ostensibly to obtain 
writing-materials, she drew out the magazine 
and placed it in front of her where she could 
turn its pages, unobserved. 

There were two envelopes, addressed to her, 
numbered one and two. The first one contained 
the two telegrams and a card of Alton’s, bear- 
ing upon the reverse side the words “ BE AT 
47 JARVIS ROAD AT FOUR O’CLOCK, 
SHARP. TAKE A TAXI AND GIVE THE 
MAN THE ADDRESS AND YOU WILL 
BE ALL RIGHT. ALL O. K.” On another 
sheet of paper he instructed her to lose herself 
58 



A MODERN KNIGHT 


in the crowd at any one of the large stores, — 
leave by a side entrance, and meet him at Dr. 
Allerton’s, — afterward he would whisk her 
back to the station and she could explain how, 
when she found herself separated from her 
chaperone, she had come right back to the sta- 
tion to wait until someone should come for her. 

Barbara paused a long while before opening 
the second enclosure, and when she finally broke 
the seal she was glad that she was practically 
alone, for she felt the rosy color surge into her 
face. She gazed, almost in a species of terror, 
at the folded sheet which bore the words, — 

To Mrs. Alton Fordyce: (to be!) 

She unfolded it with trembling fingers and 
swiftly perused its contents. 

My dear little Wife-to-be, — 

Please read this carefully and then 
file the contents away in some safe 
and secure corner of your brain for 
future reference, because, with the 
completion of this letter, the perplex- 
ing subject of our future relations 
toward each other will be buried for- 
ever, so far as I am concerned. I can 
hardly realize that, in your enormous 
trustfulness and your complete igno- 
rance of the world, you are giving 

59 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


your dear little self and your future 
happiness into my hands, but, al- 
though I am a ‘ mere man ’ as you, 
yourself, once intimated, still I can 
understand something of what you 
must be feeling as you read this let- 
ter. You have honored me by confid- 
ing in me, and in return I will tell you 
a secret, — which is that I am just as 
lonely and forlorn as you are, and 
that I feel that we can be the best 
chums in the world. And that is just 
what I intend we shall be for as long 
as My Lady chooses! I shall take 
delight in giving you every care and 
luxury in my power, and in return I 
only ask that you shall be happy and 
truly like me as much as possible. 
But, dear little girl, — if the time ever 
comes when you can truthfully say 
that you do care (as I shall hope and 
pray that you some time can 1 ) remem- 
ber that I’m trusting you to come to 
me and tell me so quite frankly, — and 
I will make the telling as easy as pos- 
sible, you may be sure! Is it too 
much to ask of you? 

I must tell you, in extenuation of 
such a frightfully long letter, that 
you have already found the vulnerable 
spot in this supposedly immune heart 
of mine, and I fear that even your 
6o 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


own desire could not now dislodge 
you from your place in my thoughts. 
Of course, before the world, you are 
my wife, and we must take pride in 
playing our parts so well that even 
our intimate friends (if we make 
any) , shall never even suspect the 
“ rift within the lute.” Everything 
shall be exactly as you decide, now and 
always, and you are to feel perfectly 
free to come to me at any time with 
anything that worries or bothers you. 
Au revoir, now, little Child-wife o’ 
Mine, and God grant that you may 
never have cause to regret your trust 
and faith in him who is so soon to be 
your husband. 

Always steadfastly yours, 

Alton Fordyce. 


With shining eyes and flushed cheeks the 
girl re-read the epistle which had cost Alton so 
much careful thought and planning, and then 
tucked it snugly away in her diminutive wrist- 
bag, beside the papers containing the directions. 
The letter was written on very thin, foreign- 
looking paper, gray in color, with a modest, 
black A. F. in cipher, and a tiny coronet above 

6i 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


the interlaced letters. As Barbara sat ponder- 
ing, she thought how exquisitely neat the whole 
thing appeared, — how exactly like the writer — 
just as clean-cut and straight to the point, — and 
she wondered if, in the course of time, she might 
not be forced to admit that he had won his place 
in her affections, even as he now assured her of 
her own unconscious conquest over him. Sud- 
denly realizing that she needed some letter to 
show for her prolonged sojourn in the writing- 
room, she hastily dashed off a few lines of love 
and homesickness to Sister Theresa in her quiet 
convent, and calling her aunt, returned to her 
seat to make her preparations for departure. 


Across the bright, beautiful morning heavy, 
leaden clouds had been rapidly gathering and 
before the train had approached its destination 
the whole aspect of the day had undergone one 
of those sudden changes so peculiar to the North 
American climate. Driving sheets of rain were 
sweeping athwart the landscape, pounding upon 
the windows and trickling in miniature rivulets 
off the car roof and the window-sills. On the 
whole it was rather a dreary and disheartening 
moment for the embarkation of such an enter- 
prise as Barbara had in hand, but, a little to 
62 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


his surprise, Alton heard her actually laughing 
and insisting that their original shopping excur- 
sion be adhered to in spite of the threatening 
weather, — and she was rewarded by the cheery 
appearance of a few pale and watery gleams of 
sunshine, just as they drew into the station at 
Salt Lake. 

In the bustle of leaving the train her two 
guardians failed to notice that the tall English- 
man followed them down the steps, but Bar- 
bara, observing out of the corner of her eyes, 
comprehended at once the identity of the slim, 
slightly bent man in the clerical garb who, totally 
unheeding his surroundings, seized both Alton’s 
hands and marched off with his arm linked 
tightly in that of his friend and a beaming smile 
of welcome upon his delicately chiseled counte- 
nance. 

As she was escorted by her aunt into a cab 
(after many adjurations from the man, anent 
his wife’s losing sight of her charge), Barbara 
held tightly to her little black wrist-bag, and 
her small traveling bag. In the former were 
her handkerchief, a letter from Sister Theresa, 
received on board the steamer, a small paste- 
board box, containing the few but valuable 
articles of jewelry sent to her by the coroner at 

63 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


the time of her parents’ tragic ending, the card 
and letter from Fordyce, and the two crisp 
bank-notes which he had crushed into her hand 
the evening before. She had never seen bills 
of such large denominations and she wondered 
if she would be able to get them changed at 
some shop or if she would be obliged to go to 
a bank to avoid exciting any undue comment. 
Her simple, unspoiled mind, utterly unused to 
the slightest prevarication or intrigue of any 
description, was beginning to feel the exhilara- 
tion incident to such a radical departure from its 
accustomed habits, and almost before she was 
aware of the fact she found herself perfecting 
a plan of escape from her aunt, even down to 
its most minute details. 

Buying a trousseau, under the most favorable 
conditions, is far from being a simple and easy 
matter, and the acquisition of even a modestly 
proportioned one, under Aunt Eva’s super- 
vision, resolved itself into a species of dreadful 
nightmare to Barbara. In an incredibly short 
space of time, and in spite of her secret, as well 
as openly expressed preference for the more 
quiet grays and violets which accorded more 
with her feelings of recent bereavement, she 
found herself the disgusted and horrified pos- 
64 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


sessor of a green and silver evening-gown, — a 
crushed-strawberry afternoon costume, — a vio- 
lent blue and black street suit, adorned with some 
two dozen round, gilt buttons, — and a hat 
which would have caused even Broadway to 
catch its breath and look askance, — so fearful 
and wonderful was its construction. 

It seems to be a peculiar fact that the more 
subdued and restrained a woman is, — the more 
repressed her natural instincts are, — the more 
drab and colorless her entire existence has 
been, — when the long-coveted and vaguely 
hoped-for opportunity at last opens out before 
her, her fancy runs riot, and her purchases are 
more likely to resemble a gigantic rainbow, 
gone thoroughly crazy, than anything else upon 
this planet! 

As Barbara watched her aunt, she could not 
help wondering at the elder woman’s almost 
childlike delight in the bright colors and beauti- 
ful materials spread out before her. The more 
calm and unruffled of the two women was con- 
vent-bred Barbara who, until this moment, had 
never even stepped inside of a large store, in 
her life, and to whom everything was entirely 
new and strange. Her aunt was like some poor, 
color-starved soul, having its fill of mere sens- 

65 


5 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


uous beauty for the first time, and the girl could 
not bear to discourage her enthusiasm, although 
some of the combinations of color were not only 
startling but actually hideous. Poor Barbara 
could scarcely restrain her tears while the atro- 
cious gowns were being tried on and re-fitted 
for her, and it seemed to her, in her recent 
grief, little short of a sacrilege to be obliged to 
parade up and down, peacock-like, in garments 
which were a shock to every sensitive fibre in 
her composition and against which every artistic 
feeling rose in revolt. 

At last came luncheon, in a restaurant 
on the top floor of one of the large shops, and 
after that function had been satisfactorily dis- 
posed of, the topic of an evening-wrap came up 
for discussion. Barbara inclined very strongly 
toward a soft gray velvet in the show-case in 
the shop where they were at that moment lunch- 
ing, but Aunt Eva’s heart was set with a mulish 
obstinacy upon a nile-green satin affair with 
numerous strappings of black and gold, which 
she remembered seeing in one of the other shops 
which they had patronized, during the morning. 
The one question of price being the only matter 
which Aunt Eva considered worth disputing 
about, — Barbara stubbornly insisted that the 
66 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


price of the green one was almost double the 
price of the gray, — and her aunt, by this time 
thoroughly tired out by her unaccustomed shop- 
ping debauch, said, ruefully, 

“ If I wasn’t so dead tired I’d go right back 
and find out about that other one! I do wish 
I knew, for certain! ” 

Barbara’s heart sang at the thought that 
Fate had thrown her a much better avenue of 
escape than any she could have manufactured 
for herself, but she took care that her elation 
should not show upon her usually tell-tale face 
as she ventured, tentatively, 

“ Don’t you think that I might be able to 
go back and find out, — and then come and 
tell you? I’m certain I could find the store 
again.” 

“ I’m sure I don’t know what your uncle 
would say,” returned the elder woman, “ but I 
do like that green one for you, — and I just 
can’t walk another step until I’m rested, — and 
you might get lost in this big city, — and 
besides, — how long do you think you would 
have to be away? ” 

“ Probably an hour or more, allowing for 
delays, and not getting waited upon at once,” 
hazarded Barbara. 


67 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


Aunt Eva hesitated for some time, torn 
between the Scylla of her husband’s certain dis- 
pleasure if her lapse of duty should come to his 
knowledge, and the Charybdis of her innate 
desire, as a shopper, to secure a bargain. 
Finally the green and gold creation won the day 
and she capitulated. 

“ Well, if you’ll be back in an hour. I’ll 
risk it! You can go and I’ll wait in the ladies’ 
parlor for you. And perhaps, by that time, 
my feet will be rested. Here’s a dollar, for 
carfares and things, and do hurry, — or we won’t 
have time to buy the rest of your things before 
the stores close for the night 1 ” 

Barbara tried to listen with an unconcerned 
air, but she gave a little gasp of relief as she 
finally disappeared down the elevator to the 
street floor. 

The elder woman, left to her own devices, 
(and a little bit to the not over comfortable 
beratings of a tardily awakened conscience!) 
repaired to the ladies’ waiting-room, on the 
fourth floor of the building. It was a large, 
cool, half-dusky room, lined with mirrors, and 
with palms and easy chairs scattered carelessly 
about, and along the walls, on two sides, ran 
rows of the most seductive looking leather 
68 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


couches she had ever seen. For a while the 
weary woman sat primly in an arm-chair watch- 
ing the people come and go, but at last the mute 
invitation of those sofas was no longer to be 
ignored, and, with a glance at the clock, she 
removed her hat and settled herself upon the 
most secluded of them, murmuring softly, 

“ I’ll just snatch ‘ forty winks ’ before she 
comes back and I’ll be a new woman. It lacks 
three quarters of an hour, yet, to the time, and 
I told her where to find me.” 

Almost before her thoughts had taken 
definite form, her eyes had closed and she had 
gently drifted off into the arms of Morpheus. 


69 


CHAPTER SIX. 


ARBARA experienced a feeling of 
unbounded relief as she emerged 
from the street door into the passing 
crowd and was promptly swallowed 
up in the throng of hurrying 

shoppers. 

She knew exactly what she had planned to 
do, and she was not at all sure how much time 
she could spare, as she had no idea how long it 
would require to reach her ultimate destination. 
Dr. Allerton’s house might be ten minutes or an 
hour from her present location, for all she 
knew to the contrary, and she reflected that it 
would be dreadful if she were to be late to her 
own wedding. It was only two o’clock now, 
and four was the appointed hour, — yet she 
dared not risk any unnecessary delay! 

In what had been left of the night after her 
talk with Alton, she had done some very serious 
thinking, and her impressionable mind had 
mapped out a course of procedure, involving 
Fordyce’s monetary contribution, which no one 



70 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


save a girl, reared amid the dreamy, old-world 
surroundings of a French convent, could have 
planned. With her little head full of the fairy- 
tales and olden time stories which had formed 
the greater part of her lighter reading for so 
many years, the big, kindly Englishman had 
come into her life in just as miraculous a man- 
ner as that in which the Prince was wont to 
come to the rescue of the “ distressed damsels ” 
in the old legends. So Barbara’s innocent heart 
had arisen to proclaim him the Knight and Con- 
queror, — who was to set the imprisoned maiden 
free, and then live happily with her forever 
after! Did not all the old tales run exactly so? 
And surely, no ancient Prince Charming could 
have looked more comely and fitted for the part 
than this wholesome young Briton appeared in 
the eyes of this particular “ distressed damsel ” 
whom he was setting out so energetically to 
rescue. 

She would have her Father’s ring, which was 
in her possession, looked over and cleaned and 
Alton should have it when they were married, — 
at least she should not be quite a “ pauper 
bride,” — and she rather thought her dead 
Father would approve of her making that use 
of it. She reflected that the big, boyish Eng- 


71 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


lishman was just such a man as her Father would 
have admired, and a glow of gratitude had per- 
vaded her being, there in the stuffy little berth, 
dimly illumined by the first faint streaks of 
dawn, as she breathed a prayer of thankfulness 
that he should have been so providentially des- 
patched to her assistance. In the morning, after 
receiving his letter, the remainder of her self- 
imposed, mystical task had taken definite form 
in her mind, — she would buy a locket (she had 
always secretly longed to possess one, any- 
way!) — a locket with space enough in it to 
hide the sheet of thin paper on which the man 
had poured out his feelings so frankly, — and 
that letter (which Barbara rightly called her 
first love-letter) , should lie securely hidden there 
until, perhaps, the time should come when she 
could lay it in his hand as a tacit admission of 
her love for him, and her gratitude for his 
manly protection of her. 

She hurried down the main thoroughfare 
until she came to a bank which, to her untutored 
mind, appeared pretentious enough not to be 
astonished at her desire to have her two one- 
hundred-dollar bills changed into money of less 
conspicuous denominations. Here she prof- 
fered her request and her two crisp notes, rather 


72 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


tremulously, and was startled at the clerk’s pleas- 
ant, “ Good afternoon. Miss Grayson, — glad 
to see you back, — any particular way you would 
like to have it? ” 

Barbara could not have told what she man- 
aged to say in reply, but she found herself in 
the street again with what seemed to her a bag 
full of rustling paper money before the reali- 
zation came to her that, with her heavy black 
veil over her face, the affable clerk must have 
mistaken her for someone else whom she evi- 
dently strongly resembled. How easy it had all 
proved, — and how dreadfully it had worried 
her beforehand ! She smiled, fleetingly, to her- 
self, as she caught herself hoping that this first 
incident might be a good omen for the re- 
mainder of her undertaking. 

Her next stop was at an imposing jewelry 
establishment where she handed the attendant 
a heavy, masculine-looking ring, bearing one 
magnificent stone in a Gypsy-setting, with in- 
structions to have it cleaned and put in order 
while she made some other purchases. These 
consisted of a fine gold chain, delicate as a 
thread but of unusual strength, and a handsome 
heart-shaped locket, beautifully engraved on 
both sides and with several tiny stones set in the 


73 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


face. Then the man, under her direction, 
removed the picture-holders from inside the case 
while she carefully folded and re-folded a piece 
of paper from her bag until it was small enough 
to be crowded into the cleared space inside the 
trinket. 

“ Can you fix it so it cannot be opened? ” 
she asked the attentive salesman who had been 
watching her maneuvers with undisguised curi- 
osity. 

“ It can be done, — with a small rivet, but 
it might mar its looks,” was the reply. 

“ Never mind that, — how quickly can you 
do it? ” she demanded. 

” About ten minutes,” responded the now 
thoroughly interested clerk. 

‘‘ I’ll wait! ” was the brief reply he received, 
and he was forced to retire to the back work- 
room, still wondering about the childish little 
figure in the mourning garb, which had taken a 
seat directly facing the huge clock, with an air 
of being about to wait exactly the designated 
ten minutes and not one instant longer. 

It was much nearer twenty than ten minutes, 
and the girl was beginning to grow restless, 
before the clerk returned, bearing the ring as 
well as the locket. Barbara scrutinized both 


74 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


objects carefully, laid five twenty dollar bills, 
two tens and a five upon the glass case, — 
popped her purchases into her bag and hurried 
out, after ascertaining from the salesman the 
location of the nearest taxi-cab stand. She 
noticed that it was exactly quarter of three when 
she gave the man the address and climbed into 
the rickety vehicle, and in just three minutes 
more she found herself stopping before a pretty 
cottage-house, set well back from the street, 
possessing an air of quiet dignity and seclusion 
in the midst of the flowers and shrubs which 
surrounded it, and looking strangely out of place 
in the encircling business and commercial dis- 
trict. As her driver opened the door of the 
cab for her he favored her with the inquisitive 
scrutiny of one who marveled that anyone 
should take a conveyance for such an insig- 
nificant distance. 

“ Are you sure this is the right place ? ” 
inquired Barbara, nervously. 

“ Sure t’ing,” replied the man, eyeing her 
curiously, “ 47 Jarvis Road, you said, — Rev- 
erend Allerton’s ’ouse, — didn’t ye?” 

Barbara could not recall having mentioned 
any name in connection with her destination but 
she hastened to say, “ Yes ! It’s all right then ! ” 

75 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


and dropping a coin into the man’s extended 
palm she hurried up the trim box-bordered walk 
toward the house. 

“ Your change, Miss,” called the chauffeur, 
after her retreating figure. 

“ Please keep it,” answered Barbara, giving 
him one of her rare smiles as she pressed the 
bell. 

As she waited impatiently for some re- 
sponse to her ring she began to be nervous over 
her premature arrival and to wonder what she 
should do if no one proved to be at home so 
early. But her reflections were cut short by the 
abrupt opening of the portal, disclosing the man 
whom she had noticed in the station earlier in 
the day, and whose countenance inspired her 
with an instant confidence and liking. His 
cordial smile and earnest pressure of her hand 
as he drew her inside the house were sufficient 
to banish any misgivings which Barbara might 
have entertained, and she gave a sigh of relief 
as he said, cheerfully, 

“ Come in, my dear, — come right in ! Mr. 
Fordyce isn’t here, as yet, but I shall enjoy 
having a cosy chat with you. Your name is 
Walton, I believe he said, — from Laredo? I 
wonder if you can be any relation to a man out 
76 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


there, for whom I entertain the greatest respect 
and affection, — George B. Walton, the owner 
of the ‘ 2BarA ’ ranches and mines of that 
place? ” 

Astonished and speechless, Barbara followed 
mechanically into the clergyman’s little study 
and allowed herself to be ensconced in a huge 
chair near the window (a chair so capacious that 
she was almost swallowed up in its vast depths !) 
before she recovered her voice sufficiently to 
inquire, “ What did you say your friend’s name 
is?” 

“George Walton — George Bradlee Wal- 
ton, of Laredo, Montana.” 

“ Why, — he — he was — my — father ! ” 
faltered the girl, her eyes brimming over and 
her hands searching blindly in her bag for an 
elusive handkerchief. 

The man before her started, — then crossed 
the room swiftly and stood beside her with a 
look of horror upon his expressive features. 

“You say — was? Surely you do not mean 
that he is — ? ” 

“Yes, — he is d-dead, — and my mother, 
also ! ” assented the forlorn little figure in the 
big chair, and her breath caught in a quick, con- 
vulsive sob. 


77 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


The clergyman soothed and comforted the 
overwrought child as best he could, and when 
she began to grow calmer he recounted to her 
the manner of his meeting with her father and 
their subsequent friendship. He spoke of how, 
four years before, when his own young bride of 
less than a year had been ordered West for her 
health, he had made the journey with her, and 
on the train had formed the acquaintance of 
Mr. and Mrs. Walton, who, in their turn, had 
seemed profoundly interested in both his wife 
and himself. When they learned the ultimate 
destination of the young couple they would not 
listen to their continuing the journey as they had 
planned, but insisted that Mrs. Walton remain 
with them on their ranch in Laredo. As Mr. 
Walton had completely recovered his own health 
in that locality he had great faith in its efficacy 
in the case of their guest, and when the minister 
was forced to return to his duties it was with a 
thankful heart that he had left his adored wife 
with these friendly people. His voice broke as 
he continued the narrative with a visible effort. 

“ Edith stayed there nearly a year, and 
then — the end came — very peacefully and 
suddenly. Little girl, — if your parents had 
been my own brother and sister they could not 
78 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


have been more devotedly kind to us both! 
When I brought Edie back here — to our own 
little cemetery — they came with me, — and 
nursed and tended me through the long illness 
which claimed me afterwards. Since then I 
have always seen them two or three times each 
year until last winter, when I went out to the 
old place, only to learn from the fpreman that 
they had gone abroad, very unexpectedly, to 
pay a surprise visit to their daughter who he said 
was in school somewhere over there. Since then 
I have often wondered at receiving no news, 
either of or from them, — but now, I under- 
stand! ” A long pause, and then, “Was it 
some accident, — or how? ” 

With her hand closely clasped in Dr. Aller- 
ton’s, Barbara poured out the story of her 
bereavement, the coming of her uncle and aunt 
and all the rest of the tale, — her meeting with 
Fordyce, and his plan for her “ rescue,” as she 
whimsically called it, — and she failed tO' notice 
that at one part of her narrative Dr. Allerton’s 
fingers tightened their grasp upon her own and 
he seemed about to interrupt, — then evidently 
thought better of it and relapsed once more into 
interested silence. It was an immense relief to 
Barbara, just to talk freely to this kindly-faced 
79 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


man who had been her dead father’s friend, and 
she had no idea how much she was disclosing 
until she saw him endeavoring to suppress a 
smile, and immediately appreciated that she had 
just repeated Alton’s laughing remark anent 
“ white satin and orange blossoms.” 

Dr. Allerton rose briskly as she fell sud- 
denly silent and said banteringly, 

‘‘ My dear young lady, let me inform you 
that you are going to marry the man whom, of 
all men in this world, I have always admired and 
cared for the most ! ” Then as the girl’s face 
was lighted by a wan little flicker of a smile, he 
added, “ Now, you are to sit quite quietly here 
and rest awhile, — and from now, on, this end 
of the affair is entirely in my hands ! ” 

Barbara snuggled back in the big chair and 
lazily wondered what Aunt Eva could be about, 
and just how much of an upheaval there would 
be upon their next meeting, which would prob- 
ably take place in the waiting-room, if all went 
well. If only some kind Fate would see to it 
that Aunt Eva did not arrive until after she did, 
and then Mr. Fordyce could be somewhere near 
to prevent things from becoming too unpleas- 
ant ! She was very comfortable, and more than 
ordinarily weary from her sleepless night and 
8o 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


the nervous excitement, and she must have fallen 
into a light doze, for she was startled to hear 
Dr. Allerton’s voice and to see him once more 
standing beside her. 

“ Now, my dear,” he was saying, “ you have 
a full half hour before the ceremony, — this, — ” 
turning and disclosing a stout, motherly-appear- 
ing woman, who curtsied at the words, “ is 
my housekeeper, Mrs. Grant, who manages all 
my affairs, — (and me, too, whenever she can!) 
and will you go upstairs with her and make your- 
self comfortable? I would do a great deal for 
George Walton’s only daughter, and anything on 
earth for Alton Fordyce, — so please accept the 
wedding-gift you will find waiting for you, up- 
stairs ! They belonged to my wife, — but hav- 
ing no one to cherish them when I am gone, I 
would dearly like Mrs. Alton Fordyce to have 
them. I like to feel that they are in good 
hands. Run along, now, and don’t you dare to 
put in an appearance before the stroke of four ! 
I must have an important talk with Alton ! ” 

On entering the cheerful little chintz-hung 
bedroom upstairs, in the wake of the motherly 
and excited housekeeper, the girl gazed, in 
speechless bewilderment, at the cloud of filmy 

6 8i 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


whiteness upon the bed. As she brushed her 
hand across her eyes to make sure she was really 
awake, she heard Mrs. Grant exclaiming, vol- 
ubly as she removed the hat from Barbara’s 
unresisting head, — 

“ An’ so, himself comes to me, an’ tells me 
that there’s goin’ to be a weddin’ in this house 
in half an hour, — an’ for me to go an’ get out 
his poor, dead wife’s weddin’-gown, an’ all the 
fixin’s from the trunk, — an’ get everythin’ a 
young lady would need to get married in, — an’ 
that I was to put ’em on the only person alive 
that himself would be willin’ to see ’em on, — 
so I guess they’re to go on you. Miss, — an’ I’m 
guessin’ they’re a-goin’ to be about right ! ” 

“ Do you mean to tell me,” gasped Barbara, 
“ that Dr. Allerton means me to wear his poor 
young wife’s wedding things? ” 

“ He sure do, — poor misguided man, — an’ 
himself stood over me at the trunk, to make sure 
I didn’t lave nothin’ out, too, — he did! ” 

Barbara could say nothing, — her heart was 
too full! Why were people so good to her? 
Now Mr. Fordyce could have his wish about his 
bride’s being in the conventional attire ! How 
Dr. Allerton must care for his old friend to do 
such a great thing for him ! And what a won- 
82 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


derful person Mr. Fordyce must be, to inspire 
such an affection in another man ! 

A few bright tears fell over the exquisitely 
hand-wrought lingerie as Barbara allowed her- 
self to be arrayed in it, — (for Mrs. Grant clung 
to the old tradition that a bride should never 
lift a finger toward robing herself for her own 
wedding ! ) and she went down on her rheumatic 
old knees to encase the bride-elect’s feet in 
creamy, white silk hose and little white satin 
slippers with knots of orange-blossoms on the 
toes, such as the little convent recluse had never 
before seen. Her austere convent training hav- 
ing succeeded in rendering her totally uncon- 
scious of any personal charms of her own, the 
girl held her breath when the time came to slip 
on the first little white shoe, — she feared it 
would never go on, it looked such a tiny 
thing, — and her astonishment was unbounded 
at the discovery that it was actually loose upon 
her own dainty foot. At last she was com- 
pletely arrayed in the gown and veil, — the 
gown, a quaint affair of clinging, soft white 
satin and old lace with what seemed to Bar- 
bara (who had never witnessed a wedding, in 
her life,) a most unnecessary amount of train, — 
and the veil, a square of tulle, edged with old 

83 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


rose-point lace and caught up with a dainty 
wreath of orange-blossoms. 

The tall, old clock on the stair landing was 
just booming out the first deep stroke of four 
when Barbara crept to the head of the stairs 
and paused there, leaning against the railing, 
too timid to go down alone. As she waited, 
her heart madly pounding and her breath coming 
in little gasps, the study door below her opened 
and Dr. Allerton looked out into the hall. 
Meeting her supplicating glance, he started 
toward her, exclaiming, brightly, 

“ Ah, — here she is, now! ” 


84 


CHAPTER SEVEN. 


S Barbara disappeared upstairs with 
Mrs. Grant, the Reverend Arthur 
Allerton stood perfectly still and 
watched her until she had rounded 
the comer in the hall above and was 
completely hidden from his view. Then, with 
a gentle, half-amused smile he returned to his 
study, to sit with clasped hands under his chin 
and his elbows propped upon the table, evi- 
dently puzzling over some manifestly perplexing 
problem connected with his recent visitor until 
a firm tread across the piazza brought him to 
the door with a rush to greet his friend. 

“ I want to ask you a few questions, old 
man,” he said hurriedly, pulling the taller man 
after him into his sanctum, “ and you’re not to 
do one single thing until I’m through, except 
to look as Intelligent as your natural limitations 
will permit (as we used to say. In college!), — 
and answer me. You said Miss Walton was in 
the care of her uncle and aunt, didn’t you? ” 

85 



A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ You know very well I did, — why? ” 

“ Never mind, — for the moment. Is it her 
paternal uncle? ” 

“ I judge so, — his name being also Wal- 
ton.” 

“ What sort of appearing man is he, — can 
you describe him? ” 

‘‘Beastly unattractive, Arthur, I must say! 
Exceedingly thin and tall. Too much forehead 
and altogether too little chin. About the most 
unprepossessing specimen it has ever been my 
lot to gaze upon I ” 

‘‘ And you say the girl never saw him until 
he came for her? ” 

‘‘ She said she never even knew her father 
had a brother.” 

‘‘ Well, he never did have! ” exploded the 
clergyman. ‘‘ There is some trickery at work 
here which ought to be investigated before you 
go any farther! ” 

‘‘ What do you mean to imply? ” thundered 
Fordyce, springing to his feet at the words. 
‘‘ Do you think that sweet child is capable of 
a trickery so base, — so — ” 

‘‘Hold hard. Sonny! Not so fast!” 
answered Allerton, laying a restraining hand on 
the excited man’s shoulder and forcing him back 
86 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


into his arm-chair. “ Don’t go jumping at 
conclusions like a colt at a fence! All I mean 
is that this man is no more that child’s uncle 
than you or I. Her father, George Bradlee 
Walton, was a good friend of mine, and I know 
from his own lips that he was an only child, — 
as was his wife, also. Now, what this game is, 
I confess I can’t for the life of me make out, — 
but it seems to be a plot with thi^ man posing 
as the girl’s uncle in order to get her married 
to his son and incidentally, to control her for- 
tune, in all probability. But even that would 
be pointless unless there were some clause in the 
dead man’s will which provides some form of a 
trust until a specified time. Perhaps until she 
comes of age, or something of that sort ! Two 
or three years would be ample time for a clever 
manipulator to realize quite a nice little haul 
before the title and control reverted to the right- 
ful heir, — if, indeed, it ever did come to her! ” 
“ Exactly,” agreed Fordyce, — then sud- 
denly seized with another and more startling 
idea, — “ and, fortuitously, the girl might die, — 
Arthur? Is that what you had in mind, but 
don’t quite like to say it? ” 

Allerton nodded his head slowly, then added, 
“ But I don’t believe it would go that far, — 
87 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


although strange things do happen out here in 
this country, — stranger than you would believe 
possible, Alton.” 

Both men sat silent, gazing straight in front 
of them, — Fordyce, with a set mouth and a 
worried look in his eyes, — and Allerton, with 
the rapt, dreamy expression and the half-smile 
of one who communes with souls beyond the veil 
of our finite world. At last he spoke. 

“You see, old chap, there’s no absolute need 
for you to marry her now, because I could go 
back to the station with you and face that 
scoundrel down, this minute, and prove him an 
impostor. He can’t force her to marry his son 
if she knows the truth ! ” 


Again they lapsed into silence, and for many 
minutes nothing was heard in the secluded study 
but the regular breathing of the two men and 
the ticking of the busy little mantel-clock, — 
punctuated now and then by a deep-drawn sigh 
from the young Englishman as he brooded over 
this startling and unforeseen development. At 
last the clergyman spoke, slowly and quietly. 

“ Fordyce, — there’s no use talking, — I 
like that little girl upstairs, — she seems to me 


88 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


to have a very sweet nature, — one of those 
characters which, in the right environment, will 
grow and unfold till the whole is as lovely as 
a newly blown rose, shedding sweetness upon all 
its surroundings. I think she will make an ideal 
companion — a wonderful wife — for the right 
man ! But are you the right man, do you 
think? ” 

There was no immediate answer and the 
minister asked again, 

“ Are you the man ? Do you realize what is 
before you? ” 

Fordyce did not speak, — merely nodded 
acquiescence. 

“ Do you realize,” continued the clergyman, 
‘‘ where this Don Quixote idea of yours is going 
to lead you? Barbara is merely a child, as 
yet, — not mature enough to know what the 
responsibilities of marriage mean and if — ” 

” French girls are often married as young as 
she is and the great majority of them are 
happy! ” cut in his listener. 

“ I know, I know, — ” returned the other, 
hastily, “ but Barbara is 7iot a French girl, in 
spite of her upbringing, and every atom of 
Young America in her composition will come to 
the surface again, now that she is back in her 
89 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


native country. I do not believe that she has 
the remotest idea what she is doing in giving 
herself into your keeping.” 

” I suppose I might as well tell you, first 
as last, Arthur, that this thing started out to 
be purely a marriage of convenience, — (she to 
be my wife, in name only, as long as she 
chooses) , and she is to be released when she 
comes of age if she so desires. But she did 
promise to tell me if the time ever came when 
she could really care for me as I would like to 
have her. So you needn’t worry over her re- 
sponsibilities, — the only duty she owes me is 
to respect the name she will bear, and to at least 
seem happy.” 

Allerton looked long and intently at his 
friend as if he would probe to the very bottom 
of his soul and pass judgment upon his inner- 
most thoughts. Then he shook his head sol- 
emnly. 

“ So thaf s the idea, is it? She takes all and 
gives nothing in return? Alton, how long do 
you think a woman who amounted to anything 
would be content with such an unfair arrange- 
ment as that? ” 

Obtaining no answer from the man at his 
side, he continued to address him. 


90 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Think, Fordyce ! Think what this crazy 
idea of yours (for I presume it is yours!) is 
going to mean to you, if not to her! She is 
so very young — you will have ahead of you 
perhaps years of patient waiting for the awak- 
ening of the real woman-soul in her, — 
these dreamy, convent-bred girls usually develop 
so slowly, — and when you have taken every 
care of her, wrapped her round with your 
thoughtfulness and companionship, — worked 
for her, — worried over her, — mourned and 
rejoiced with her, — given her the best years of 
your life with practically no adequate return 
from her, — after all these things, have you 
stopped to consider that she may never learn to 
care enough? That she may demand her free- 
dom when she is older and senses her anomalous 
position more fully? ” 

“Yes, — I’ve thought of that,” answered 
Alton, quietly. 

“ But — have you thought that, in time, you 
may come to really care for her in a Way that 
would be nothing short of torture to you if she 
were to remain indifferent? ” 

Allerton was startled at the look upon his 
companion’s face. 

91 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Good Lord, man ! ” answered Alton 
through clenched teeth, “ are you as blind as 
the proverbial bat? Can’t you see that the 
mischief is done, already? She is an unusually 
lovable little person and I do care, now, more 
than I would have believed myself capable of 
caring for anyone! And I do know just what 
I have let myself in for, but I am strong enough 
to go through with it, I tell you! I’m willing 
and anxious to take my chances of gaining her 
love in the end, — if I could only be sure that 
it is the honorable thing to do, in the light of 
these last incidents ! ” 

“Why don’t you leave it to the girl? I 
could suggest it to her for you,” offered Aller- 
ton. 

“ I’m no shirk! I’ll ask her myself, — tell 
her enough without revealing the ugly facts in 
all their enormity, — but, if she still elects to 
marry me, I can’t help feeling that it will be our 
best chance of tracking down these scoundrels, — 
for after the ceremony, here, I should want to 
have her go on with their plans, just as though 
nothing had happened, and at the last available 
moment catch the whole bunch, red-handed, 
— a nice little family party. We’d have suf- 
ficient time to make an investigation and get a 
92 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


line on the game before Cousin John’s wedding 
was ready to come off. But of course she shall 
decide, — where is she?” 

“Upstairs, — dressing, I believe,” returned 
Allerton, nonchalantly, — then noting the sur- 
prised expression which flitted across Fordyce’s 
face, he added, “ It is the first time I’ve had 
the privilege of ‘ dressing a bride,’ and I am 
more or less anxious about the result, myself.” 

“ What do you mean? ” inquired Alton with 
interest. 

“ I mean that I have presented your little 
bride with my own Edith’s w'edding finery, — 
gown, and I hope, all the necessary accessories ; 
no need to thank me ! ” as the big man seemed 
about to speak; “ there is no one to have them 
after I am gone, and I have a feeling that, with 
her romantic temperament, she will cherish them, 
for more reasons than one. Ah! here she is 
now! ” he finished, opening the door and smil- 
ing up into her frightened little face as she 
leaned against the railing in the hall above. 


Barbara never had a very clear idea of how 
she traversed the space intervening between the 
stair-head and the study; everything whirled 
93 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


before her eyes, and she was only conscious that 
she was clinging desperately to someone’s hand, 
and supposed it to belong to Dr. Allerton, until 
she found herself placed gently in the same huge 
chair which she had before occupied, and saw 
the clergyman at his comer desk with his back 
turned toward her, making a strong effort to 
master the emotion caused by the sight of his 
wife’s wedding garments. Then it dawned 
upon her that the hand which she was still 
clasping so closely was the property of the large 
man who was bending above her with a look 
on his honest face which caused her heart to 
behave most remarkably, and she released her 
hold in pretty confusion, as he whispered breath- 
lessly, 

“Oh, my dear, my dear! Has my old 
boyhood’s dream come to life?” 

Before she could frame any suitable answer 
Dr. Allerton came forward with both hands 
extended, and advancing to her side said, 
earnestly, 

“Thank you, my dear; — for understand- 
ing, and wearing the things. It is a great 
pleasure to me. But now there is something 
which Alton feels he ought to ask you before we 
call in our witnesses.” 


94 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Miss Walton,” began Fordyce, haltingly, 
“ do you remember telling me, night before last, 
that you didn’t wish to be married to your 
cousin : — in fact, that you did not wish to 
marry anyone, if you could possibly help it? 
The girl nodded a very decided afErmative. 
“You were also good enough to admit that 
you like me a little, didn’t you? And, anyway, 
you preferred me to Cousin John? ” 

“ Yes,” she answered, briefly. 

“ If you were perfectly free to choose 
now, — if you needn’t marry anybody unless you 
particularly wanted to, — if facts had come to 
light which proved that your uncle had abso- 
lutely no power to make you obey him, — would 
you still choose to become my wife as we 
planned it, last night? ” 

Barbara had risen and was gazing at her 
two companions with wide, troubled eyes, as if 
to read their inmost thoughts. It was disap- 
pointing to Dr. Allerton to notice how strained 
was the expression on Fordyce’s face as he waited 
for the girl’s answer. At last her voice broke 
across the silence of the little room, low and 
clear. 

“ I can’t imagine what you both mean, but 
I know I have nobody in the world except 
95 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


Uncle, — and I’m dreadfully afraid of him ! 
Did you mean what you wrote in that letter, Mr. 
Fordyce? Or was it just to make me feel more 
comfortable about accepting your assistance, in 
this queer way, that you wrote such — nice 
things? ” 

“ I meant every word! ” answered the man, 
solemnly, holding her gaze with his own, and 
speaking slowly and distinctly. 

“ Then, if you still wish to assume the re- 
sponsibility, I choose to carry out our plan.” 

The sudden blaze of happiness which irrad- 
iated the usually unmoved countenance of the 
Englishman was so noticeable that his friend 
could only hope that the girl was so pre-occupied 
that it might escape her observation. It hurt 
him, that his old chum should wear his heart on 
his sleeve quite so openly, perhaps only to have 
it spurned and slighted, in the end, by this slip 
of a girl who, as yet, had no adequate concep- 
tion of the value of the treasure which was to 
be poured out at her shrine. 

Fordyce strode forward to where Barbara 
stood, a tiny figure in floating, white draperies, 
reaching barely to his shoulder, and tucking her 
hand snugly beneath his arm, faced his friend, 
exclaiming, 


96 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ It’s all right, man, — fire away! ” 

The calling in of the necessary witnesses 
occupied only a moment, and almost before the 
two people most intimately concerned could com- 
prehend the fact, they had been pronounced man 
and wife, — a wedding-ring and a wonderful 
diamond had appeared, as if by enchantment, 
upon Barbara’s finger, — a heavy circlet with 
one magnificent solitaire set deep in the gold, 
rested securely upon the little finger of the 
groom’s left hand, — the little bride had been 
kissed by everyone, with the single exception of 
the groom, and had hurried upstairs, to make 
a speedy change back into her sombre, black 
garments, — and Allerton and Fordyce were 
clasping each other’s hands in a grip which 
denoted a friendship, tried and true, — of the 
sort to which most people aspire but never quite 
attain. 

As the waiting taxicab swallowed them up, 
Allerton’s parting words were, 

“ Good-by, and bless you both I Let me 
know your plans, — I want to be in at the 
finish! ” 

As they drove away Fordyce glanced cov- 
ertly at the tense little figure, sitting bolt 
upright in its own corner of the cab, and ex- 


7 


97 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


perienced the desire to take her in his arms and 
tell her just how adorable she was, but he curbed 
the impulse, and was on the verge of breaking 
the tension with some jocular remark anent a 
“ council of war ” when Barbara grasped his 
arm nervously, with, 

“ Look! In the car! Quickly! ” 

In the street-car, which had drawn abreast 
of them, perched upon the very edge of the seat, 
and looking very much worried and upset, Alton 
descried Aunt Eva. Evidently, by some freak 
of a lucky fortune, she had been delayed some- 
where, and they both realized how important it 
was for her charge to be already in the waiting- 
room when her chaperone should arrive upon the 
scene. Alton spoke to their driver, who drew 
sharply away from the car and hurried down a 
side street, depositing them at the entrance of 
the station just as the car, containing a very 
indignant and flurried woman, turned the comer 
of the block. 

“ I must talk to you, — it’s imperative,” 
hurried Alton as he piloted the girl to a seat in 
the main waiting-room. “ If I engage the draw- 
ing-room for Mrs. Alton Fordyce, could you 
get away from them and occupy it, and meet me 
after they’re abed? ” 


98 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ I don’t see how I could,” answered the 
girl, wistfully, adding, but it would be nice to 
be alone, for once.” 

“ Yiou dear child! Now, listen carefully! 
I’ll put the state-room (if I can get it!) in the 
name of Miss Walton, and when bed-time 
comes, you just get up and remove into it and 
shut the door, — and Uncle won’t dare make too 
much fuss over it or it will look precious queer 
to the other passengers, and he will not 
risk that! If there is any opposition, just 
repeat your remark of that first night about 
‘giving warning.’ Yes!” as Barbara looked 
astonished, “ I heard it then ! Can you do it, 
do you think? ” 

“ I’ll try, — if you’ll be somewhere within 
sight, to give me courage. The Sisters used to 
say that I was quite an actress, but I have never 
had a serious test of my histrionic ability.” 

“ I’ll be there! Never fear that I’ll desert 
on the eve of battle ! Only remember this, — 
your uncle has absolutely no control over you, 
now! Well, I’m off before the avalanche 
descends ! ” and, with a final, cheery smile, 
Fordyce disappeared in the crowd, just as Aunt 
Eva propelled herself, headlong, through the 
main doorway into the waiting-room. 


99 


CHAPTER EIGHT. 


w 


HEN the warm and thoroughly 
frightened little woman finally 
located her charge she hurried over 
and plumped herself down beside 
her with a huge sigh of genuine 


relief. 

“ Where did you disappear to? ” she de- 
manded, between gasps for breath. 

Barbara, seated primly upright, the picture 
of patient waiting, beside her little black hand- 
bag and her fingers crossed listlessly in her lap, 
looked up with a gleam of malice in her brown 
eyes, as she replied, 

“ When I came away from that store I 
found I had lost myself, and so I thought I 
had better come back here and wait until you 
came for me, which I supposed would be by 
three o’clock, anyway. Where have you been, 
all this time. Aunt Eva? ” 

Barbara could not have told what put it into 
her head to ask the question and she was more 
than amazed at the unexpected result. 


lOO 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“Oh dear!” gasped the little woman, 
trembling visibly, “ Oh dear me 1 Don’t you 
ever let your uncle know that I let you out 
alone and lost you for so long! Oh, I don’t 
know what to do! You won’t say anything 
about it, will you, child? Do promise me you 
won’t ! ” 

The imp of mischief which seemed to have 
taken possession of her hitherto rather moody 
young companion, puzzled the elder woman, who 
had no means of knowing that Alton had ap- 
peared upon the other side of the row of seats, 
directly behind her unconscious back, and was 
making mute signs of encouragement to Bar- 
bara. 

“ But where were you, while I was lost?” 
persisted the girl, in as stern a tone as she was 
capable of assuming. “ I insist upon know- 
ing!” 

“ Oh dear me ! ” sighed the little woman, 
once more, “ I’m afraid I was asleep ! ” 

“Asleep, — when I was wandering about 
alone ! Oh, Aunt Eva ! ” 

“ Yes,” deprecatingly, — “ you see, I went 
to the ladies’ parlor as I said I would, and lay 
down to get ‘ forty winks,’ — and next I knew 
it was a quarter past four and I couldn’t find a 


lOI 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


trace of you anywhere, or anyone who remem- 
bered having seen you. But I’m so relieved to 
find you here before your uncle gets back ! 
He’d just about kill me if he knew, — and you’ll 
be a dear girl and help me out, now, won’t 
you? ” 

Acutely aware of Alton Fordyce’s gleeful 
face, and quick to see that she had the whip 
hand of at least one of her tormenting guard- 
ians, Barbara drew herself up and said, coolly, 

“ I’ll say nothing to Uncle, — just so long 
as you let me do exactly as I please. The first 
intimation, on your part, of interference in any 
way with me will be the signal for me to tell 
all I know ! That will eliminate you from this 
situation, and leave the issue solely between that 
man and myself. Remember, you are to side 
with me, if it comes to a choice between us, — or 
else remain strictly neutral, — a sort of an 
offensive and defensive alliance, — is it a bar- 
gain? ” 

“ What do you mean to do? ” parried the 
horrified woman, anxiously. 

“ Here he comes, now ! Quickly ! Is it a 
bargain? Yes, or no? ” insisted Barbara, 
wickedly, entranced with her success as an 
amateur actress. 


102 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“Yes, yes, if I must! But I don’t see 
how — ” 

“ Never you mind, now,” returned the 
girl, — “ perhaps, if you decide to join forces 
with me entirely, I may be able to — yes. Uncle, 
we had a very successful shopping trip, thank 
you 1 ” 

The tall man came hurrying up to them, 
his face disfigured by a scowl, and very evidently 
worried and not in the best of tempers, and as 
he approached them Barbara caught a glimpse 
of a smile as her newly made husband effaced 
himself in the line of waiting tourists at the 
Pullman reservation window. 

Her two guardians conversed in undertones 
for several minutes and then the man departed 
to make his own arrangements for the train that 
night. Barbara turned to her companion, re- 
marking, in a quietly level voice, 

“ Please go over and tell that man that I 
wish a berth all to myself.” 

“ Now, Barbara, — ” began the poor, 
harassed little woman, but she caught a look 
from her charge which impressed her with the 
wisdom of speedy compliance. She crossed the 
room and appeared to be disputing with her 
husband, but came back, shaking her head 
103 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


sorrowfully, and remarking, ingratiatingly, 
“ He won’t allow it, no matter what I say! ” 

“ Very well 1 I only wanted to feel that I 
had been perfectly fair and had given him his 
chance, — but I see it is of no use.” 

The plump little lady bustled back, and was 
apparently reporting this astonishing statement 
to its object, but was impatiently dismissed and 
came back to her seat wearing a decidedly down- 
cast expression. 

There was still a forty minute wait before 
train-time, and the two women sat in antag- 
onistic silence until the elder man had retired 
from the window and passed behind them on 
his way out of the station, evidently upon some 
last but important errand. As he passed behind 
her Barbara started to turn her head to see 
where he was going but was deterred by a 
peculiar sensation at the back of her neck, — 
that of a hand lightly brushed against her coil 
of hair. Raising an investigating finger, she 
touched a slip of paper, laid on her shoulder 
underneath the brim of her hat. Holding it 
low at her side she discovered it to be a bit 
tom from the edge of a time-table, holding these 
words, in a now familiar hand, — 

“ Uncle seems restless ! I’m going 
to shadow him till train-time, — con- 
fusion to cads, — my motto I ” 

104 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


Blushing a little as she recognized the chirog- 
raphy, she crushed the paper and dropped it out 
of sight between the seats. 

“ Barbara,” ventured her companion at last, 
“ what’s come over you? You aren’t the same 
girl at all, somehow ! ” 

“ Of course I’m not,” assented Barbara, 
calmly. 

“ Why is it? You’re changed, in some way, 

— you are so — ” 

“ Of course ! ” agreed the girl again, “ I 
warned you both that there was a limit and you 
saw fit to disbelieve me! That limit is reached, 

— that’s all! ” 

” What did you mean, awhile back, by my 
joinng forces with you? ” 

“ If you don’t know,” returned the girl, put- 
ting a world of meaning into her voice, by way 
of experiment, ” then I’ll not tell you! ” 

“ Barbara ! ” The little woman was excited 
now, — her china-blue eyes were protruding and 
her voice had risen to a thin, metallic squeak, — 
“ Tell me, this instant, how much you know and 
how much is merely guess-work, on your part ? ” 
“Ah!” returned the girl, wisely, with a 
most disconcerting nodding of her dainty head. 
“ Then there is something I ought to know? 
105 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


I thought as much! No-o, — on the whole, 
I think I prefer to play my own game out alone, 
now, — as I have planned. I had thought of 
confiding in you, — to a certain extent, — but I 
have changed my mind, for the present. Only 
remember, — I’m not nearly so helpless and 
forlorn as you and Uncle believe me to be — 
since this afternoon 1 ” 

“ Did you talk to anyone about yourself, — 
as you tried to do on ship-board? Surely you 
did not do anything so foolish? ” inquired the 
elder woman, with a tone which implied that she 
was hoping for a favorable answer, although 
hardly expecting it. 

Barbara merely smiled her inscrutable smile, 
and looked at her so wickedly that her aunt was 
thrown into a state of nervous excitement which 
lasted until train-time, when Barbara added to 
her fright by the remark, 

“ Don’t forget that not one word of this 
conversation is to be reported! ” 


Just as their train was called the lanky in- 
dividual reappeared, carrying some letters which 
he hastily thrust into his coat pocket as he 
grasped their bags and started for the platform. 
io6 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


Barbara looked quickly around in a vain en- 
deavor to locate Fordyce, and her heart sank 
with the quick fear that he might miss the train 
which was already pulling into the station. 
She failed to find him anywhere in sight, but it 
was not until the train had actually started that 
she gave up hope of seeing him, — and until 
then she had not fully realized how much she 
had depended upon his very presence to spur 
her courage on to the playing of her prescribed 
part. Her whole afternoon’s experience seemed 
like a dream to her, except when she could take 
a peep at the two golden circlets, hidden safely 
in her purse, which she had taken the precaution 
to remove from her finger while dressing, after 
the ceremony, and when she felt, through her 
frock, the locket which she had purchased, dur- 
ing her hurried trip to Dr. Allerton’s house. 

As she stood up to rerrfove her jacket an 
unusually obsequious porter hurried forward to 
relieve her of the wrap, and at the same time 
slipped a tiny folded note into her hand. Her 
spirits rose with a bound, — so he was on board, 
after all, and she would probably see him before 
very long! 

“ I’m going to wash my hands. Aunt Eva,” 
she said to the little lady, and forestalled the 
107 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


other’s evident intention of accompanying her 
by a stem, “ You need not come, — remember! ” 
Under the impression that, if one must 
fracture the truth, at intervals, it was always 
best to be strictly honest when possible, she 
solemnly washed both face and hands before 
glancing at the tiny note which read. 

Dear, 

Eureka I Better success than I 
dared to hope! Can’t occupy my 
own section, which is opposite where 
you are sitting until I can efface the 
satisfied grin from my countenance. 
I’d be too noticeable until my glee 
wears off a bit! The state-room at 
the farther end is yours, — porter will 
come for your things whenever Uncle 
starts his party bedwards. Will you 
come to me, on the observation plat- 
form, afterwards? Must see you 
alone, — it is frightfully important ! 
You are the bravest little thing I ever 
knew, and I am proud to sign myself 

Yours — A. F. 

As Barbara had no writing materials she 
summoned the porter, and standing in plain 
view, but out of earshot, at the end of the aisle, 
she said impressively, 

io8 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Tell my husband I cannot write, but I’ll 
meet him in the observation-car at any time he 
sets. You can let me know, can you not? ” 

At her unconscious emphasis of the phrase 
“ my husband ” the darkey rolled his eyes and 
looked somewhat nonplussed, but departed, with 
a broad grin. Some moments after she had 
taken her seat he hastened back through the 
car again, and bending to speak over her 
shoulder, he said, audibly, “ Ten o’clock, lady! ” 

Aunt Eva was perfectly aware of this bit of 
by-play, and could hardly have failed to hear 
the ambiguous words, but she evidently deemed 
discretion the better part of valor, under the 
circumstances, and contented herself with open- 
ing her mouth as if to speak and then closing it 
again with a snap. 

Up to the time of their return from the 
dining-car, Alton had remained absolutely invis- 
ible. It is true that, on her way to the diner, 
in passing from car to car, a hand had clasped 
Barbara’s in the dimness, and as soon as she 
had returned its pressure, in a faint degree, it 
had drawn back into the obscurity of the dark 
vestibule, where a darker spot in the general 
blackness indicated the whereabouts of a stal- 
wart masculine figure. She had become accus- 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


tomed to the idea that she was probably not to 
see him until much later in the evening, so it 
was with genuine surprise that she discovered, 
on their return to their section, after dinner, the 
big Englishman, comfortably ensconced in his 
own seat and deep in the perusal of a current 
magazine. So absorbed was he that he did not 
even glance up as his neighbors took their seats, 
and as the man and woman settled themselves 
to a game of cribbage the girl gave a long sigh 
of real relief, and abandoned herself to the 
uninterrupted contemplation of the man opposite 
her. 

He certainly was good to look at, — a husky, 
broad-shouldered specimen of British manhood. 
She liked the way the thick, brown hair fol- 
lowed the lines of his splendid head, — she 
liked the little crinkles around his eyes and at 
the corners of his large, well-formed mouth, 
which came and went as he seemed to arrive at 
some amusing spot in his article, — she especially 
admired the absolutely clean, well-groomed look 
which is so much an integral part of the healthy, 
out-doors-loving young Briton, — a look as if 
mind and heart were both “ swept and gar- 
nished ” to the same degree of perfection as 
the exterior. She sat for the better part of an 

I lO 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


hour, her mind making little side digressions, 
but with a sort of inner consciousness directed 
toward the doings of her neighbor, until it was 
suddenly borne in upon her that she had not seen 
him turn one page in all the time since she had 
begun her observations. On a closer inspec- 
tion she encountered a pair of mirthful gray 
eyes regarding her quizzically over the upper 
edge of the periodical, and she comprehended at 
once that the investigation had not been by any 
means one-sided. As their eyes met the humor- 
ous light in his was suddenly quenched and their 
expression softened until she could not support 
their gaze without embarrassment. She felt as 
if she were being encircled by warm arms, and 
her cheeks glowed until she turned away to hide 
her confusion, under the pretense of looking at 
her uncle’s watch. 


CHAPTER NINE. 


ELL,” growled the man, glanc- 
ing a second time at his time- 
piece, “ after nine. Time we 
were turning in, I guess,” and 
he beckoned to the porter who 
was hovering in the background. 

He hastily prepared the Walton’s section 
and then Fordyce’s, — then with one quick 
motion possessed himself of Barbara’s things, — 
bag, coat and umbrella and retreated hastily out 
of sight into her stateroom. 

“ Good-night,” said the girl, sweetly, as she 
rose and started to follow the porter, who had 
deposited her impedimenta and had now come 
back to the end of the little hallway, to ascertain 
if she was following him. 

“ Barbara! ” The command came from 
the man, and she halted with her hand on the 
edge of the made-up section wherein Alton had 
disappeared, and where he now sat, cross-legged, 
convulsed with silent laughter, as he listened to 



A MODERN KNIGHT 


the spirited controversy taking place on the out- 
side of the drawn curtain. 

“Where are you going? What does this 
mean? ” came in quick interrogation from the 
man, followed by “ Oh dear! Oh dear! ’’ sotto 
voce from the little woman. 

“ It means that I warned you before that I 
should act for myself, — and I have. It means 
that I am going to the stateroom which is 
reserved for me. Good-night ! ” and turning 
on her heel she swept out of sight around the 
comer of the narrow passage way. 

The deserted couple stood and gazed stupidly 
at each other for a full minute, — then the man 
found his voice and said to his companion, 

“ It’s ridiculous ! Of course the stateroom 
isn’t hers ! What could have put that into her 
head? I’ll find the conductor! ” and he 
bustled off, to return in a moment, followed by 
the Pullman conductor and the widely-grinning 
porter. 

“ There’s certainly no mistake, sir,” repeated 
the conductor, patiently and earnestly, showing 
his lists in verification. “ That stateroom was 
engaged at five o’clock to-day, sir, for a Miss 
Barbara Walton, — and here are the check and 
the ticket, sir, all O. K. Good-night, sir ! ” 

8 ”3 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


The man turned to glare at his companion, 
who promptly retired behind her berth curtains, 
and Alton heard him mutter, disgustedly, 

“ Well, — I don’t yet see how this was man- 
aged, — but if she thinks she will leave the 
train, or any such foolishness, she will be check- 
mated! She will not leave that room if I have 
to spend the whole night on a camp-stool, out- 
side her door, — and I’ll do it, too I ” 

Alton’s momentary glee being transmuted 
into something quite different by this remark, 
he left his berth, where he had been huddled, 
fully dressed, and repaired to his favorite place 
of meditation, — the observation platform, — to 
puzzle over the means of now consulting with 
Barbara, later in the evening, in the light of 
this last development. Had he delayed his 
departure from the car for only a few moments 
he would have been spared much unnecessary 
anxiety, for he would have heard the somewhat 
noisy return of his neighbor, fretting and grum- 
bling because both porter and conductor had 
refused to permit him and his camp-stool to 
blockade the aisle. 

Fordyce was soon puffing away at his pet 
pipe and dreaming with his eyes wide open. 
Indeed, he did not need to close them to con- 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


jure up the face and form of the girl whom he 
had so hastily espoused, — her large eyes 
haunted him, and he felt that if she did not, 
in time, come to care for him in the way in 
which (he was forced to admit to himself!) he 
honestly hoped she might, — then he would be 
the most miserable man alive. He was honest 
enough to himself to acknowledge that he was 
experiencing that thing which, all his life, he 
had most unmercifully ridiculed, — and viewed 
with something akin to disgust. He called to 
mind that he had never had the least patience 
with what Is commonly called “ love at first 
sight,” his argument being that real love could 
only grow and blossom and come to its full 
perfection on a foundation whose solidity pre- 
cluded the possibility of a first-sight passion. 
This precipitate type of love, he had always 
felt, could only be the result of a mere physical 
attractiveness In the object of the suddenly in- 
spired passion, and was bound to wear Itself out 
with the attainment of Its desires. As a mat- 
ter of course, such a feeling must be, primarily, 
a selfish one, and only concerned with gratifying 
its own pleasures. 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


Yet, here he was, — married to a girl whom 
he had known less than thirty-six hours, and 
falling more deeply in love, every moment! 
His position was certainly unique, — no past 
acquaintance, — no courtship, — merely a ques- 
tion or two, asked and answered, — a few words 
spoken over them by an old friend whom he had 
almost forgotten until the need of him brought 
him into his mind, once more, — and now, he 
was certainly and surely a married man, — but 
a husband, without a wife, — and in the tragic- 
ally embarrassing position of finding himself 
head over heels in love with a child whom he 
must treat simply as he might a dear and 
cherished sister, for an indefinite time 1 Really, 
it was a disconcerting impasse for Alton Fordyce 
to have plunged himself into, and he wondered 
at himself, until before his mental vision swam 
a picture of the girl and her pathetic eyes, and 
then he admitted that it was the natural course 
of events. 

He began building the most flagrant air- 
castles, — passing lightly and impatiently over 
his future settlement with these impostors and 
their impossible son, to the time when he might 
have established his bride in a home of their 
own, somewhere. He knew that from now, on. 


i 


A MODERN KNIGHT 

he must tread warily, — she must not be hur- 
ried or alarmed in any way, — he could enjoy 
her nearness and dearness, — her sweet compan- 
ionship, — her gay little humors, — he could be 
an efficient “ shield and buckler ” to turn the 
points of any hostile darts, — he could see her 
each day, — greet her each morning, — bid her 
good-night, each evening, — perhaps he might 
even kiss her, at long intervals, — all these things 
he might do, — just so long as he was able to 
banish from his eyes and voice anything warmer 
than brotherly affection! 

“Beg pahdon, suh! ” said a voice at his 
elbow,” but yo’ wife done ax me to give yo’ dis, 
suh I ” 

The darkey porter displayed an alarming 
expanse of white tooth surface as he presented 
a folded slip of paper. Hastily striking a wax 
vesta the Englishman scanned the bit of paper, 
— then fell into a reverie. The scrap bore 
only these words, 

“ Uncle has made me give my 
word not to leave this room until 
morning, so would you be very much 
shocked if I ask you to come to me, 
here? You said you must see me, and 
I see no other way, — do you?” 


17 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


There was no beginning and no signature, but a 
whimsical smile curved the comers of the man’s 
mouth as he thought, “Would I be shocked? 
My own wife, too, — as far as the Church and 
State can make her! Oh, it is rich! I only 
wonder that she didn’t sign herself ‘ Barbara 
Walton! ’ She seems to overlook the mere fact 
that she is married! ” 


“Any answer, suh?” questioned the ebony 
Mercury, after an appreciable wait. 

“ No — I’ll answer it later,” said Fordyce, 
passing something to the man’s conveniently 
waiting palm, and the gentleman of color was 
forced to retire, albeit with curiosity written 
large upon his dusky countenance. He would 
have liked to know more of the doings of this 
queer couple who carried on their intercourse 
through scraps of paper with himself as the 
medium, and yet who mentioned each other so 
proudly to him as “ my husband ” and “ my 
wife.” 

When Fordyce was certain that the curious 
porter was out of the way he pulled himself 
together and went in to tap lightly on the door 
of Stateroom A. 


ii8 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Come,” called Barbara’s voice, softly. 

The man turned the handle of the door and 
entered, closing it gently behind him and stand- 
ing stiffly before it. 

“ I got your note,” he murmured, and then 
mentally upbraided himself for such a palpable 
inanity, — as though he would have been there, 
otherwise. 

“ Then you weren’t shocked? ” she inquired, 
naively. 

‘‘Rather not! Shocked, because my own 
wife sends for me to come to her room? Only, 
I’ll be perfectly honest with you, — I do feel a 
bit awkward! Under any other circumstances, 
I think I should know how to treat my bride, — 
but, you see, I don’t know exactly how you wish 
me to behave toward you when we are alone 
together. Whether you wish to be treated as 
a friend, or whether I may do my best to 
make you care for me? ” 

Barbara surveyed him an instant with 
startled eyes but she did not smile. 

“ I hadn’t even thought about that,” she 
replied with an assumption of dignity which the 
man before her would not have believed possi- 
ble in one of her immature years. “ I know 
you are very much of a gentleman ! ” 


19 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Also — a man, — and your husband,” 
added Fordyce, under his breath, — then aloud, 
“ I think you can trust me not to take any 
undue liberties, although being a husband does 
usually entitle one to some privileges, — doesn’t 
it? I have a lot to talk to you about, and I 
really think you would be more comfortable out 
on the platform. There is one way of escape 
which you overlooked! You gave your word 
not to leave this room until morning, — and in 
ten minutes it will be morning, literally speak- 
ing, as it is now eight minutes of twelve. You 
can come out then without breaking the letter 
of the law, even if the spirit of it is a little 
strained! ” 

Barbara’s eyes danced with appreciation, 
although her red lips remained sober. 

‘‘ That is so, — I had not thought of that ! 
But I don’t think I would feel quite right about 
it, having given my word of honor. So I think 
you will have to make yourself as comfortable 
as possible here, and tell me all about things, — 
ever since you left the station with Uncle.” 

“ Don’t you dare call him ‘ Uncle ’ again! ” 
exploded Alton, vehemently. 

“Why?” asked the girl, in a frightened 
voice. “Tell me what you mean?” 


120 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Because he isn’t your uncle, — or any rela- 
tion to you, I believe, — because he’s an impostor 
and a cheat, — and his elaborately constructed 
house of cards is just about to be tumbled about 
his ears! He called at the General Delivery 
window, this afternoon, for his letters, addressed 
to Thomas Dixon I ” 

In the excitement of his revelation Alton had 
leaned farther over toward the girl than he 
intended, and dropped his hand protectingly 
over one of hers which rested on the seat 
between them, but he was instantly sobered 
by the realization that she had shrunk 
from his unthinking and entirely unintentional 
caress. 

“ I beg your pardon,” he exclaimed, stiffly, 
as he withdrew the offending hand, “ I did not 
know that you felt so strongly about it, — and 
I did not mean — ” 

“ Oh, it’s not that ! Really it isn’t 1 ” began 
the girl, tremulously, while her eyes filled and 
she caught her breath pathetically. “ It’s only 
that, somehow, — I can’t realize that I’m mar- 
ried to you! You are the first man I’ve ever 
really known, you know, — and I’ve been so 
nervous and keyed-up, — and — oh ! please for- 
give me! ” 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


She smiled through her tears and held out 
both hands in a pretty supplicating gesture which 
warmed the man’s heart. 

He appreciated what a tremendous nervous 
strain she had been enduring all day, — also how 
very small and frail she was, — and he gently 
but firmly captured both little fluttering hands. 
Almost before she could think of a protest she 
found herself weeping into a broad, gray tweed 
shoulder, — a strong arm was holding her close, 
and little fond, comforting words, such as one 
would use to soothe a child’s troubles, were 
being whispered somewhere into her mass of 
dark hair. After a few moments the convul- 
sive sobbing ceased, and as she grew quieter 
Alton whispered, banteringly, 

“Cheer up, dear! Was the trousseau so 
very dreadful, after all?” 

“Oh, awful!” gasped Barbara, mentally 
blessing him for the diversion. “ You can’t 
imagine how — ” 

“ Never mind! We’ll buy another, before 
long, — and that one shall be a beauty, I promise 
you! And what did you buy with my contri- 
bution? Something nice, I hope?” 

Barbara blushed and seemed to find diffi- 
culty in speaking, but finally managed to stam- 


122 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


mer out, “ I’d really rather not tell you — now! 
You see, I don’t know you very well, — some 
time I will, — later, — if you wish, — but please, 
not now ! ” 

“ Just one question, at least,” persisted the 
man, gravely, — “ You didn’t put it into this 
ring for me, did you? ” 

Barbara laid one finger upon the jewel in 
question and answered, with a far-away look in 
her dreamy eyes, “ Oh, no, that was my own 
to give. It was my Father’s, and I know he 
would be glad for the Prince to have it! ” 

Alton’s arm instinctively tightened about the 
slender figure which he still partly held, — then 
he released her entirely, saying soberly, 

“ You whimsical childie I Please don’t 
begin by exalting a very faulty mortal into a 
prince, even in your imagination 1 I assure you 
I am most dreadfully human and common- 
place, and sometimes I almost fear for your 
happiness.” 

But Barbara only shook her head in a 
decided negative, although to which part of his 
remark that emphatic negation was meant to 
apply, Alton could not determine. At last, 
when her tears had altogether ceased to fall, 
he spoke laughingly to her. 


23 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Come, little wife, — now we must have a 
grand pow-wow, — and decide what is to be 
done, and then I must let you rest a bit, for 
we arrive rather early, and Cousin John is 
(metaphorically speaking) ‘ waiting at the 
church ’ you know ! ” 

“ Oh, Mr. Fordyce,” murmured Barbara, 
brokenly, “ you have been so good to me, — I 
can’t begin to thank you and to tell you how 
ashamed I am to have broken down like this.” 

” That’s all right,” cheerily responded her 
husband, “ now we must plan! ” and he rapidly 
outlined to her the scheme which had been 
maturing in his mind all the afternoon and 
evening. 

Barbara was to appear to acquiesce in the 
plans of her bogus relatives concerning her future 
until the latest available moment, delaying the 
supposed wedding-day as long as possible, in 
order to give Alton time to muster the forces 
of the law to their support, — then he would act, 
suddenly and effectively, and have all the plot- 
ters encompassed in the net at once. After that, 
he would install Barbara in a home of her own, 
somewhere away from scenes which would only 
recall sad memories, which, in the mean time he 
would have all prepared for her, — and then — 


24 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


he paused, not knowing how to express, in ade- 
quate words, the ideas which flung themselves 
to the fore in his brain, and remembering, just 
in the nick of time, that he was dealing with a 
shy and easily-frightened child, rather than a 
mature woman. 

As he rose to take his leave he discovered 
himself to be still in possession of Barbara’s 
hand, and he caught himself wondering if she 
was conscious of how madly his heart was pound- 
ing, — and whether the thrill which was pervad- 
ing his whole being at that contact could be 
communicated to her by way of his finger-tips. 

“ But, Mr. Fordyce,” she was saying, “ why 
didn’t you just tell me all this, before, — I could 
have gone back to the convent, then you need not 
have married me — it seems too bad — for you.” 

To the man’s listening heart it seemed that 
there was a short though very perceptible pause 
before the words “ for you,” and the blood went 
racing through his veins as he drew her a little 
closer by the imprisoned hand. 

“ For just this once, — the forbidden sub- 
ject,” he answered, in rather a hushed voice, — 
“ first, you are married to me, so it is perfectly 
ridiculous for you to call me Mr. Fordyce! 
Now say Alton.” 


125 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Alton,” repeated the girl meekly, with her 
eyes fixed on his face. 

“ Now, say it once more, — I rather like to 
hear you say it! ” 

She did as he bade her, smiling a little at 
his inherent boyishness. 

“ Good! You see when I hesitated at that 
part of our future plans concerning our home, it 
was only because it was on the tip of my tongue to 
forget our peculiar relations and tell you a little 
of what is in my heart, — but I feared you would 
rather not have me, — a little of something 
which concerns me too vitally to have you even 
minded to smile at it ! Have I your permission 
to go on? ” 

“What is it?” she asked, with the same 
startled look of appeal in her eyes which he had 
seen there on the night of their meeting. 

“ Only this, Barbara dear, — and please 
don’t look so frightened, — it hurts me ! I have 

never believed in love at first sight, as it is 
called, and have always guyed those who seemed 
to take so much stock in it, — but now, I give in ! 
I had no idea that I really cared for you in 
that way until the facts proved that I need not 
marry you unless I wished, — that there was 
another way out of it for you, — and then it was 
126 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


brought home to me with a rush. I knew you 
were sweet and refined and attractive, and that, 
for some unaccountable reason, I felt impelled 
to help you, — but I know why, now ! Because 
my own lonely heart went out to you and 
claimed you as my very own, — because I love 
you, truly and strongly, — because I hope, some 
day, you will be able to truthfully tell me the 
same thing, — and then — Girl, Girl, you are 
too young to realize the full and wonderful 
significance, but it will mean the most con- 
summate happiness which earth can hold for two 
people! Now I must go, little wife, or else I 
might lose my head and forget that, as yet, 
I have a wife only in name, not in heart! I 
didn’t even claim the groom’s privilege of 
‘ kissing the bride ’ this afternoon, you noticed, 
for fear you would not like to have me, under 
the circumstances! Good-night, dear,” and he 
lifted the little hand lightly to his lips a moment 
and turned to the door. 

“ Wait, please,” called Barbara, faintly. 

Alton turned with his hand upon the latch, 
and waited, questioning her with eyes and atti- 
tude, for her to relieve her mind of its 
apparent burden. 


127 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“Would — would you — like to — do it 
now? ” finished the girl, while her face burned 
with her effort, and she trembled slightly. 

One step carried the man back to her side, 
where he tilted up the flower-like face and gazed 
long and earnestly into the clear depths of the 
eyes raised so trustingly to his own as if he 
were striving to pierce behind the veil and read 
the motive back of her curious request. At last 
he approached his face, very slowly, — ex- 
perimentally, as it were, to hers, and seeing the 
involuntary contraction of her muscles and the 
unconscious closing of her eyes for a fleeting 
second, he straightened up and shook his head, 
saying, 

“ Thank you. Girlie. I’d better not! You 
see, yourself, you don’t really wish it. I don’t 
want your sense of duty to run away with you, 
and believe me, I shall not expect you to kiss 
me until you can do it without shutting your 
eyes to me! And please don’t try so hard to 
like me, for it is almost sure to spoil it all. If 
you should want me for anything. I’ll be stay- 
ing at the ‘ Sunset House,’ and a word will 
bring me to you at any time! In the morning 
I shall be off to Laredo, on the trail of one 
Mr. Thomas Dixon! ” 


128 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Pleasant dreams, little girl, and we’ll out- 
wit them yet, — see if we don’t! ” and with a 
boyish grin, Alton vanished from the stateroom. 


9 


129 


CHAPTER TEN. 


ETON Fordyce was thoroughly tired, 
— “ knocked up,” as he would have 
expressed it, — and more than a lit> 
tie worried, into the bargain. Here 
it was, lacking only one day of 
being a week since he had arrived in Butte, 
and he had seen or heard absolutely noth- 
ing of Barbara. He had made a flying 
trip down to Laredo, and after much incon- 
venience and abundance of red tape, he had 
succeeded in obtaining a back number of the 
“ Morning Star ” which had a printed copy of 
George Walton’s last will and testament, over 
three months before. The only paragraph 
which he felt could at all concern this affair in 
which he was involved seemed to be the fol- 
lowing — 

“ All that part of my property 
situated near Laredo, which has been 
named for my daughter; consisting of 
the ‘ 2 Bar A ’ ranch and all it com- 
prises, as well as the two mines owned 
by me, which will be found registered 
130 



A MODERN KNIGHT 


under the same name, together with 
the old homestead on Rowan Street, 
in which she was born, and the sum 
of $20,000 in cash, now on deposit in 
the banks named in the appended list, 
I give and bequeath to my only 
daughter, — to be held in trust for her 
until she comes of age by my old- 
time partner and friend, Thomas 
Dixon; all accounts to be submitted 
quarterly, to the firm of Andrews & 
Brown, Attorneys; except in the case 
of Barbara’s marrying, in which event 
the control of all her financial affairs 
will be assumed by her husband until 
she is of legal age to assume the 
responsibility : namely, twenty-one 

years.” 

“ At last ! Thomas Dixon drops into his 
proper place in the landscape, for which I am 
devoutly thankful! ” muttered the investigator, 
carefully cutting out the article and pocketing 
it, — and he had then ridden thirty miles out into 
the plains to have a talk with the foreman of 
the 2BarA ranch. 

He had found that worthy to be a grizzled 
veteran of a cow-boy, — weather-tanned to the 
color of mahogany, and muscled like a prize- 
fighter. In the half hour of his call he dis- 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


covered the man to be a whole-souled devotee 
of the late owner and of all persons and things 
pertaining to him, and just as heartily detesting 
Mr. Dixon. He told Alton that Dixon was 
not and had never been a partner in the 2BarA 
outfit, or the two mines of the same name, which 
Mr. Walton always considered the finest of all 
the property in his possession, — and when 
Fordyce told him the story of the last few days, 
including his own summary marriage, and his 
subsequent discoveries in Salt Lake City, the old 
fellow’s excitement knew no bounds. He ex- 
ercised a large and very picturesque vocabulary 
upon the duplicity of the old rascal and his son, 
and ended with, — 

“ Now — if there’s goin’ to be any trouble 
over this affair, an’ you an’ Miss Barbara wants 
a place to make a safe get-away to, — this 
ranch is IT. They won’t never dare follow out 
here, ’cause I told the old man I’d let a little 
daylight plumb through that ornery carcass of 
his if he ever set foot out here agin, — an’ he 

knows d d well I’d do it, too! Miss 

Barbara — (pardon. Stranger, I forget the 
child’s gone an’ got married!) — would be as 
safe here as anywheres. Why’nt ye bring her 
out here, right away? She’d be happy, — an’ 
132 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


what better place could ye have fer a honey- 
moon, — now, tell mef ” and he dug his listener 
meaningly in the ribs with a huge forefinger. 

The man’s pleasantries made Alton su- 
premely uncomfortable, and he finally felt it 
incumbent upon him to enlighten the old cow- 
puncher a bit as to his domestic relations, and 
the old man listened with an expression of the 
most supreme scorn upon his bronzed and 
weather-beaten countenance. 

“Hell!” he ejaculated, expectorating vio- 
lently, — “a marriage of convenience, eh? So 
you think George Walton’s daughter would’ve 
married ye under any conditions if she hadn’t 
liked ye an’ respected ye, a hull lot? By 
Crimus! I know her better’n that! You’re 
plumb locoed, if ye believe any such nonsense! 
You bring her out here where she loves every 
rod o’ground and every room in the old house^ 
an’ where she won’t have anythin’ to trouble her 
mind, an’ I tell ye it won’t take her long to find 
out that she does care, — more’n she knows, 
now! The big house has been closed fer nigh 
onto a year, now, an’ we’d all like to see it open 
again, — an’ the rightful owner livin’ here, once 
more. Take my advice and find out her real 
feelin’s!” 


133 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ But,” protested Fordyce, “ she’s so young, 
— she doesn’t know what love is, — ” 

“ Huh ! ” grunted the plainsman, under his 
breath, shifting his pipe rapidly to the other 
corner of his capacious mouth and back again, — 
“ Look’y here, young feller ! I like ye, a hull 
lot, — I make free to say that ye’re the kind 
of a man that George Walton would’ve liked, — 
but ye’re an all-fired simpleton in some things ! 
That’s the reason I’m goin’ to butt Into yer 
affairs, — though It’s plumb agin what prin- 
ciples I’ve got left. (An’ last time I butted 
into someone else’s affairs, I got a bullet in 
my hide, too!) Your wife’s no younger than 
her mother was when she was married I When 
George Walton was twenty-one, he made a 
run-away match (a love match, mind ye!) with 
a girl who was just turned eighteen, who didn’t 
have a cent to her name, — I helped ’em over 
the border Into the next county, myself, — an’ 
in all these years, to my certain knowledge, that 
couple were never separated more than twenty- 
four hours, an’ they never had a single scrap, 
neither! Do you think the daughter of two 
people such as they were isn’t going to know 
what love Is? I tell ye she ought to be the 
tender passion personified, — only she ain’t woke 
134 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


up to it yet! You bring her out here to us, — 
that’s all I got to say! ” 

“ But her training ! ” protested Alton. “ A 
girl brought up by an outfit of nuns, in a French 
convent, isn’t as old at eighteen as an ordinary 
girl at sixteen, — and you can hardly expect 
heredity to play much part in her character, — 
at least, not yet awhile.” 

“ Shucks ! ” burst out the cow-man, dis- 
gustedly, and Fordyce smiled in spite of himself 
to hear that mild expletive on the lips which 
had so recently evinced an intimate acquaintance 
with the most violent language, in connection 
with Mr. Dixon. “ Bring that girl out here, 
an’ give me ten minutes confab with her, — an’ 
I reckon you’ll be satisfied with the result. She 
used to be a chip of the old block, — an’ I know 
what I’m talkin’ about. All I’ve got to say to 
ye is to bring her out here an’ trust to the 
future ! So long ! Glad to see ye any time, — 
so long! ” 

Alton had come back at the end of the week 
with his mind made up to act upon the old 
ranchman’s advice, and as he sat in his room 
at the hotel that afternoon, he was wondering 
how he could see Barbara to put his theory to 
1 35 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


the test, and why he had received no word from 
her. Surely she must be all right, or she would 
have managed to let him know, in some way I 
Twice he wrote her a hasty note, and twice he 
destroyed the result of his efforts, without even 
a second reading. He was building a dream 
world, these days, and he was becoming im- 
measurably anxious to put the cow-man sug- 
gestion into operation. 

At last, about seven o’clock that evening, 
his suspense was cut short but his curiosity and 
his fears aroused by the short note tucked into 
his mail-box during the dinner hour. It read, — 

“ I can’t stand the pressure any 
longer, — am coming to you tonight, 
and you will have to take me away 
from here, — I don’t care where ! 
These people are all hateful and hor- 
rid, and if I have to stay here much 
longer I shall be tempted to do some- 
thing desperate, and let them know 
that I am aware of their imposture! 
That’s all! It is hard on you, I 
know, when you are doing so much 
for me, but I can’t see any other way 
out. Expect me about ten o’clock, — 
or as soon after that as I can get 
away without being noticed. 

B. W. F.” 
136 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


It made Alton’s heart throb joyfully to see 
how unconsciously she signed the “ F ” to her 
name, indicating that at least she was becoming 
enough accustomed to the idea of their marriage 
to have accepted the use of his name, even in 
her correspondence with himself, and he 
hummed a snatch of a popular tune as he hur- 
ried down to the desk to try and make affairs 
look as regular as possible to the hotel manage- 
ment. 

“ My wife will arrive here some time this 
evening,” he announced, to the astonishment of 
the desk clerk, and the very evident discom- 
fiture of a couple of gaily dressed and painted 
damsels who were endeavoring to attract his 
attention. “ Have you a comfortable room 
with bath which she can have for a few days? ” 

“ I’m sorry, sir, — the only vacant rooms in 
the house at present are the little one which 
opens into your suite through the bathroom, and 
one two floors higher up, sir.” 

“ The former will do, — I’ll take it and give 
her the large one, — number twenty, you said? 
Thank you.” 

“ Coming in on the Western Flyer, sir, — 
or the Pacific Express?” the clerk inquired 
civilly. 


137 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“Hm-m-m! She says to expect her — 
soon after ten,” replied Fordyce, producing 
the note and innocently pretending to con- 
sult it. “ She says it might be even later 
than that ! ” 

“ That’s the Western Flyer, then, of 
course,” decided the clerk genially. “ It’s 
usually from fifteen to fifty minutes behind its 
time! Yes, sir, — we’ll show her up at once, — 
good-night, sir! ” 

Fordyce thought best not to correct the 
clerk’s obvious mistake about the method of 
Barbara’s arrival, and retired to his rooms to 
spend the intervening two hours before his wife’s 
coming in collecting his things and transferring 
them to the tiny box of a room which com- 
municated with the dressing-room on the other 
side, — and in despatching a bell-boy with a 
good sized bill to procure what flowers he could 
at that late hour. When the boy returned with 
the result of his efforts Alton sat down and gave 
way to a fit of uncontrollable laughter. 

“ The stores was all shut, boss,” reported 
that enterprising youth, “ but I knowed a man 
what had charge of a beauty garding, an’ I 
went and give de guy de money if he’d let me 
pick a box full of de t’ings. He said dey 
138 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


wouldn’t be missed an’ it was good fer de plants, 
— so I jest sort o’ sampled everyt’ing dey was.” 

“ I should judge so! ” gurgled Alton, 
between gasps for breath, — “ now you’ll have 
to get about a dozen glasses to hold this horti- 
cultural display. Hurry up! ” 

On the boy’s return they both fell to work 
sorting and arranging the blossoms in the 
glasses which he had secured. Into one glass 
went white roses and heliotrope, into another 
bright scarlet geraniums, — and it was not until 
Alton disentangled two wonderful lavender 
orchids from their conglomerate surroundings 
that he turned sternly to the boy. 

“ Those never grew out-of-doors in any 
garden, in this climate I Where did you get 
these things, my boy? Certainly not in a 
garden ! ” 

“ ’Twas, — a beauty garding! ” stoutly in- 
sisted the lad. “ Leastways, it’s a kind of a 
garding, — only all under a glass roof, an’ the 
beds all growin’ up on stilts, in boxes, like! 
The head man’s a friend of me pop’s, an’ when 
I tells him w’y I has to have ’em, he says I kin 1 
It’s at that big place what those new Walton 
folks has just bought, up on Cedar Street, sir, — 
an’ Gee-e! it sure is a wonder! ” 


*39 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


When the boy finally left the room, Alton 
sat weakly down and took a mental survey of 
the situation. It certainly was a unique one. 
Flowers from her fake uncle’s greenhouse to 
greet her on her arrival in this hotel, in her 
flight from the aforesaid uncle and his doings ! 
It surely was an amusing coincidence, and he 
hoped it would mitigate her feeling of strange- 
ness at coming to him there. He made a care- 
ful selection, — rejecting some which bore mute 
testimony to the boy’s thoroughness of observa- 
tion rather than his powers of discrimination, 
such as a couple of huge sunflowers, and three 
ungainly stalks of gladioli, — and when the 
remainder of the assortment was arranged he 
was more than satisfied with the result. The 
bunch of white roses and heliotrope reposed 
before the mirror on the dresser, unconsciously 
duplicating themselves and their own loveliness 
in its polished surface; the tumbler containing 
the orchids and a few sprays of feathery green 
graced the little lamp-table at the bed’s head, 
and other blossoms decorated mantelpiece, 
center-table and the diminutive writing desk. 
Even the white-tiled dressing room boasted four 
deep-red roses ensconced in the tooth-brush 
holder. Before Alton knew how quickly the 


140 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


time had flown there was a peremptory knock 
on the door and the boy of the flowers an- 
nounced, pompously, 

“Here’s yer Mrs. Fordyce, sir I” and 
closed the door emphatically behind her as she 
timidly entered the room. 

She was still in her sombre, black garments, 
and as Fordyce advanced hastily from the other 
room she threw back her veil and displayed such 
a pale, careworn countenance that the man 
before her uttered one quick exclamation which 
sounded suspiciously like “ Darling! ” and pick- 
ing her up in his arms, he unceremoniously 
deposited her in the one big chair which the 
room afforded and tucked a pillow from the 
bed snugly behind her back. With gentle 
touch he removed wrap and hat and carried 
them to the wardrobe, — then went down on one 
knee to draw off the overshoes which the in- 
clement weather had necessitated. His com- 
posure had partly returned by this time, and 
still upon one knee, he allowed himself to press 
his lips softly to her palm. 

“ Welcome, dear,” he said, seriously, “ I 
was hungry for a sight of you, — and here you 
are I Tell me all about what is bothering you.” 
And he drew up a chair facing her, and waited. 


CHAPTER ELEVEN. 


JUST couldn’t stand it a mo- 
ment longer! ” mourned Bar- 
bara, plaintively “ They are 
hateful and horrid and dis- 
gusting, — and I’d like to kill 

their son ! ” 

Alton’s level brows contracted. “ What has 
he done? Tell me at once, Barbara, — remem- 
ber I have the right to know, now! ” 

“ It began when we first came,” she con- 
tinued softly. “ We met him at the station and 
he has never forgiven me for not letting him 
embrace me right there in public! Since then 
we have had to go hunting for a house, and 
buying draperies and furniture and china, and 
all such things, — and he has been all right and 
at least a gentleman, when his mother has been 
about with us, — but when we are alone he is 
entirely different. His eyes have such a horrid 
gleam and he is always wanting to hold my 
hand, or some such thing! And he is always 
teasing me about what he is pleased to call my 
142 



A MODERN KNIGHT 


prudishness, and saying that he will make me 
sorry for my treatment of him, some day soon ! 
Oh, he is just too dreadful ! ” 

“ Is that all? ” demanded the Englishman, 
while his face darkened and was disfigured by 
an ugly scowl. 

Barbara was silent, — visibly embarrassed. 

“ I must know! Can’t you trust me, dear 
Girl? ” The man’s voice was pleading. 

“ Of course, — but it is so hard to get 
started! If — if you were to look the other 
way I think I could tell you more easily! ” 
Alton rose and walked to the window, with- 
out a word, — then, “ Go on! ” he commanded, 
and she gave him a timid look, — and obeyed. 

“ You see, this afternoon,” she began, 
meekly, “ his mother and he and I went to see 
the house he has been preparing for me. I 
kept her with me until we went upstairs, when 
she managed to leave me alone with him. 
Really I am rather afraid of him, but I didn’t 
want to say anything, because I did so want to 
be brave, as you once said I was, — you remem- 
ber? Well, when we had looked at everything, 
he wanted me to sit down in the upstairs sitting- 
room for a while and talk things over, — but 
I wouldn’t, and he didn’t like it! Then he 
143 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


began sort of making love to me, — and of 
course I wouldn’t stand that, — and I started 
for the stairs. It was very dark in the hall, and 
he caught me and tried to kiss me ! I pushed and 
struggled as best I could, and I am sure I 
scratched him at least once! (Here she gave a 
whimsical little smile of satisfaction ! ) But you 
know he is rather a large man, — and he seemed 
very determined. Finally he held both my arms 
down and kissed me, — oh, ever so many times, 
— on my eyes and mouth, — and then his 
mother called up to know what the disturbance 
was all about 1 He said a bad word, then, and 
let me go, pretty quickly, and when I got down 
to her I was a baby, and cried, and told her I 
hated John, — and never had been kissed and 
loathed being kissed, as he had done it, — and 
she reprimanded him quite severely. Do you 
know, — she really seems to be fond of me, in 
her own queer way, — dreadfully fond? Then 
she asked him what he meant by kissing me in 
that passionate manner and frightening me so? 
He laughed and said he would like to know how 
I could expect to be kissed any other way, — 
being a deucedly attractive girl! His mother 
laughed at me, then, and only comforted me 
with the remark, “ What else can you expect. 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


child? Men arc all just alike, as far as a 
pretty girl is concerned!” And so, I came 
back, — and sent that note, — and tried to rest, 
— but I couldn’t sleep, — I felt as if I couldn’t 
wash my face enough to efface the contact 
of his lips, — and I don’t think I shall ever 
feel quite clean, again, — nor forget those 
kisses ! ” 

Barbara buried her face in her hands with a 
shuddering breath as she finished. There was 
a long pause in which the man’s hands clenched 
and unclenched many times, while he swallowed 
once or twice with perceptible effort, — then in 
a well controlled voice he asked, 

“ May I come back, now, Barbara? ” 

” Yes,” she acquiesced, wonderingly. 

‘‘ Listen, dear,” he spoke softly, as he stood 
quietly at her side. ” You say you like me a 
little, — you trust me much, — that I already 
know, — may I prove to you that there is more 
than one kind of kiss? That men are not all 
alike in that respect? Then perhaps you will 
be able to dismiss the thought of your recent 
humiliation from your mind, — and I would like 
you to think better of men, as a class, than you 
do now! May I? ” 

“ You mean — ” 
lo 145 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ I mean this, in plain words, dear Girl. 
I wish to have you realize that all men are not 
so uncontrolled, — that we are not all slaves 
to our passions and desires. You know that I 
love you, — love you with all the strength of 
my nature, — you know that I consider you 
entirely desirable and most alluring, — also you 
can’t fail to see that you are absolutely in my 
power, — much more so than you were in that 
cad’s, this afternoon! Are you afraid to let 
me prove my point? ” 

The girl shook her head slightly and rose 
to meet him as he bent over the uplifted face 
with its wide eyes and soft, childish mouth. 

It spoke well for the strength of Alton’s 
character; for the purity of his motive; for his 
will-power and self-control, that he could draw 
her to him so tenderly and gently, — and surely 
no old-time courtier ever saluted the fingers of 
his queen more reverently than the big man laid 
his lips upon the trembling ones of the girl in 
his arms. After softly brushing eyes and fore- 
head with his lips he placed her back in her 
chair with the remark, 

“ Now, your eyes and lips belong to me, 
little girl, — and it is my wish that you 
banish their previous visitor from your mind, 
146 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


entirely, — but please don’t forget these last few 
moments! ” 

“ There’s no danger of that! ” breathed the 
girl, softly. 

The long and intimate silence which ensued 
was broken by Alton’s asking, “ What do you 
propose doing, now you are here? ” 

Barbara started and looked rather embar- 
rassed. 

“ I hadn’t even thought, except to come to 
you and have you tell me what to do next,” she 
replied, meekly. 

“ Just as soon as I got your note, I engaged 
a room and bath for my wife, whom the obse- 
quious desk-clerk promptly surmised was coming 
in on the ten-something train. It was his own 
supposition, so I thought it wiser not to cor- 
rect him, — and don’t forget you arrived that 
way, if anyone should mention it! There was 
no room to be had except one two floors up, or 
this one, which connects with mine through the 
bathroom. It was the best I could do at such 
short notice, and — well, it will look better 
to the uninitiated than the other one, don’t you 
think so? I hope you don’t mind, dear? ” 

But Barbara was gazing about the room 
with a peculiarly puzzled look on her expressive 

147 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


countenance, and it was evident that she hardly 
sensed what he was saying. 

“ Alton,” she blushed as she spoke the 
unfamiliar name, — “ where did you get those 
lovely orchids? Uncle was boasting, only yes- 
terday, that his new hot-house contained the only 
specimens within a hundred miles of this spot ! ” 

“Those came from Uncles greenhouse!” 
exploded Alton, and then, amid heart-healing 
laughter he told her the story of her “ horti- 
cultural display,” as he still insisted upon calling 
it. 

The girl’s self-possession had returned to 
her during their joint hilarity over the story, and 
her husband thought the time had arrived to 
put the old ranchman’s theory to the test. 

“ Barbara, do you know Joe McMurtry? ” 
he questioned. 

“ You don’t mean the foreman of the 2BarA 
outfit? Of course I do! Where is he? Have 
you seen him? How is the dear ranch? How 
do you come to know him? ” 

Fordyce watched the play of emotions over 
her face in amazement. Never before had he 
seen her so animated, — so in earnest, — and he 
caught his breath sharply as he noted how very 
lovely she was in her excitement. 

148 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ I’ll tell you, some time,” he laughed, “ but 
now I want to ask you a question. Would you 
rather go out there and live on the home ranch, 
than in a house of my choosing, — anyway, for 
a while? ” 

“Oh, could I? Would you take me out 
there for a short time? ” 

He nodded his acquiescence, meanwhile 
watching her intently. 

“ And would you stay out there with me? ” 
“ Indeed yes, — if you really wished me to 
do so. Are you sure you do? ” 

“ Oh! oh! ” she cried, “ how good you are 
to me! Why are you so good? Don’t you 
suppose we could just go out there at once, and 
leave the others to fight it out among them- 
selves? ” 

“ We can start tomorrow evening, — and it 
will be a wonderful ride, if it is full moonlight, 
as I believe it ought to be! We could not 
start any earlier, as I must see about some 
things, — some important things, — here, to- 
morrow morning,” and his lips set in a line 
which boded no good to the object or objects of 
his thoughts. “ Besides, you need many things, 
my dear, — you must have a trousseau, you 
know, to take the place of the one you are 


149 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


leaving with Auntie, — and you can go out with 
me early tomorrow morning and we’ll shop at 
the two French stores which I saw in my aim- 
less wanderings about, this noon. No one 
would ever think of looking for little run-away 
Barbara Walton there, so you can shop to your 
heart’s content! Now, good-night, and the 
pleasantest of dreams! This door opens into 
your bathroom, and when I go I will fasten the 
one beyond, and you can be perfectly comfort- 
able.” With this, and a cheery smile he van- 
ished, closing the door firmly behind him. 


In his own little room Fordyce sat dream- 
ing out at the threatening night sky, — enjoying 
to the full the play of the jagged lightning and 
the answering roar and crack of the thunder, 
and the sound of the heavy downpour. He 
was much too happy to even think of sleep, and 
he mentally called down all the blessings in the 
calendar upon the head of the unconscious 
rancher for his advice, — for when he had held 
his young wife in his arms that evening he had 
realized, more than ever, how much it would 
mean to him to have her always ready to come 
into them. He was aroused from his waking 

150 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


dreams by a peremptory rap upon the connecting 
door, and her gentle voice saying, 

“ Alton, let me in this minute, please, — I 
must talk to you some more! ” 

He sprang up and quickly threw back the 
lock, opening the door wide, and saw her, sil- 
houetted against the brightness of her own room, 
blinking into the dusk of his. 

“ Why did you give up your nice room to 
me? ” she demanded, instantly. 

“ What makes you think I did? ” he parried, 
amused at her perspicacity. 

“ Because I found — this — in the closet,” 
she returned, shyly, thrusting a soft silky bundle 
into his hands. 

“ Excuse me dear, — I left — this — in case 
you didn’t think to bring any of your own things 
with you, to wear. I know it seems funny, — 
but it was the best I could do, — at short notice, 
— and some girls do wear — pajamas, you 
know, — don’t they? ” 

It was rather a halting speech but Fordyce 
was flattering himself that he had thought 
quickly, for once, and disarmed her suspicions, 
when she petrified him with, 

“ That was more than kind of you, — but 
did you leave your shoe-trees, in case I might 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


need them, also? And your riding-crop for the 
same good reason ? ” She made the inquiry with 
a serious face, and then laughed merrily at the 
disgusted expression which overspread his face 
when he saw that he had been caught napping. 
Sobering instantly, she commanded, hastily, 

“ Turn on your light, at once ! I intend to 
see that you are at least comfortably fixed, after 
giving up your lovely room to me.” 

The man hesitated for an instant, then re- 
luctantly did as she requested. Barbara gasped. 
It was a tiny, single room, — almost a dressing 
room, in fact, — with one window and one small 
side bracket-light, — a sofa-bed and a couple of 
chairs, with a dresser in one corner. Alton’s 
trunk occupied most of the available space 
between bed and dresser, and for lack of closet 
space his wearing apparel was distributed im- 
partially over the different articles of furniture. 
The girl’s eyes filled with sudden tears, and with 
all the abandon of a hurt child she threw her- 
self into his arms, crying, 

“ You shan* t do it ! I won’t let you ! This 
little stuffy hole! I won’t have itl Why, it 
isn’t even meant for a real bedroom, — it’s the 
parlor that goes with this suite, — and you shall 
not be so generous 1 ” 


52 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


Fordyce went red, then white with suppressed 
emotion as his arms, of their own volition, closed 
about the slender form, but he wisely did not 
attempt to caress her again, in any way. In a 
moment what he had anticipated took place. 
She disengaged herself from him with a little 
apologetic gesture, and began gathering up some 
of his things, as if to put them away for him. 

“ Listen, dear,” put in her husband, quietly, 
‘‘ you are to go to bed at once, — and rest, — do 
you understand? — just plain rest , — and don’t 
you dare to think of getting up until I call you, 
at seven o’clock I I shall spend a good part of 
what is left of the night in packing up for our 
departure, tomorrow, — and the remainder I 
expect I shall put in building ‘ Castles in 
Spain.’ ” He looked meaningly into her eyes as 
he led her to the door. “ Sleep well, — and 
don’t you worry over anything, — it’s a pretty 
good old world, after all! ” 

She heard the inexorable click of the lock 
and was forced to be satisfied although she lay 
awake far into the night, her heart thrilling to 
the tones of his voice and the touch of his hands, 
and in a fair way (if her husband could only 
have known it!) to worship this big, bronzed 
man, who was so strong and resourceful, yet so 
tender and gentle with her. 

153 


CHAPTER TWELVE. 


FTER their breakfast the next morn- 
ing Alton went with Barbara to the 
two shops which he had mentioned 
to her, and after informing the 
statuesque and somewhat supercil- 
ious proprietresses that his wife was in need 
of a complete wardrobe, and giving them 
carte blanche as to the supplying of it, 
he made his escape with the whispered word 
that he would be back for her in a couple of 
hours or so. Then he betook himself to the 
office of the most prominent lawyer in town, 
where he was closeted for the whole two hours. 
The lawyer made copious notes, and promised 
to keep him informed of the progress of the 
plan which Alton had suggested to him, — 
adding that if all the facts could be proved to 
the satisfaction of a court, it would resolve itself 
into a nice example of conspiracy to defraud, 
which was certainly a punishable offense. 

He returned for Barbara about noon, by 
way of Cedar Street, and noticed, in passing. 



>54 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


that there seemed to be an unusual air of stir 
and suppressed excitement pervading the old 
place, but he gave it no further thought than to 
remark to himself, “ Guess they are scouring the 
place for Barbara, about now ! ” He was 
chuckling, inwardly, when he passed the gate, 
until the door opened and a tall, broad-shoul- 
dered young fellow came swinging down the 
path to the street. He had a heavy, sullen 
expression, albeit what would pass for a con- 
siderable amount of manly beauty among a 
certain class of feminine admirers, — but For- 
dyce took instant exception to his shifty eyes, 
his chin which inclined to the “ bull-dog ” 
variety, and the coarse, thick lips which pro- 
claimed all too clearly the moral fibre of the man. 
He shuddered as he thought of gentle little 
Barbara in the power of the young ruffian, even 
for a moment. 

“ Cousin John, damn him ! And he looks 
really worried ! ” said the Englishman in an 
unconscious undertone, while the approaching 
man looked curiously at the pedestrian who was 
lowering at him and whose lips were moving in 
some unheard remark. 

During luncheon he retailed for Barbara’s 
amusement the glimpse he had obtained of her 


155 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


persecutor, and finally succeeded in making her 
smile over his raillery. Also he informed her 
of his purchase of a couple of trunks into which 
her trousseau was to be packed at the shops, 
and then sent on to the ranch during the after- 
noon. He also said that he had despatched a 
message to Joe McMurtry, warning him of their 
contemplated arrival, some time about midnight. 
Then he commanded her to come out with him 
to purchase one complete outfit, to be put on 
immediately, — and when she wickedly sug- 
gested having her present costume done up in a 
bundle and carried back to her erstwhile 
guardians without even a word of explanation, 
his delight in the idea was unaffectedly boyish. 

Their purchases made, they came back to 
their rooms, and while the girl made the ex- 
change, the man completed his packing, — and 
then the package was despatched by a messenger. 
Like two children they laughed and made merry 
over their early dinner, and when the light, 
two-seated buckboard arrived before the door 
of the hotel, drawn by a pair of fleet-footed 
bronchos, they deposited their bags with the 
driver and settled themselves for their long 
moonlight ride with all the merriment and 
unrestraint of twelve years old. 

156 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


It was a wonderful night, — such a night as 
one can see only on the great western prairies, 
— clear as a bell, with a sky of black velvet, 
picked out with sparkling points of light, — and 
sailing majestically over them, a shining, silvery 
moon which cast long shadows over the country 
all about them. Barbara relapsed gradually 
into silence when they were well under way, and 
Fordyce, respecting her mood, made no attempt 
at conversation, but lazily watched the moon- 
enchanted scenery and dreamed his dreams. 

For a typically unemotional British subject, 
Alton Fordyce was doing a large amount of day- 
dreaming, these days, and it must be here ad- 
mitted that the very idea that he could or would 
dream with his eyes open would have caused this 
same young man to give something very like a 
snort of disgust, only a couple of weeks earlier. 
He had always entertained a hearty contempt for 
those men who were addicted to this very thing 
which he was now doing so continually, and he 
was just beginning to appreciate what a huge 
difference is made by the particular angle from 
which one views a subject. 

The silvery moonlight flooded the vast 
stretch of country all about them, and as he 
gazed out at it from the rapidly flying vehicle 

157 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


he received the impression that they were 
drowning in a sea of luminous ether. He 
turned, meaning to call the attention of his 
silent companion to his fancy, but the words 
died, unuttered, upon his lips, as he gazed in 
speechless wonder at the girl by his side. In 
the clear, translucent moonshine, her filmy black 
gown and floating, diaphanous veil framed a 
little face which was startlingly ethereal and 
spirituelle in appearance. Her eyes were gaz- 
ing straight ahead, out between the ears of the 
flying horses, — one hand lay in her lap, palm 
upward, while the other one, so white and 
slender, upon which sparkled Alton’s rings, 
rested lightly upon the cushioned seat not over 
two inches from the man’s side. Once or twice 
he was sorely tempted to cover it with his own, 
but he manfully resisted the impulse, and seeing 
that her consciousness was, in all probability, 
racing away many miles ahead of them, he 
solaced himself with drinking in her beauty and 
her delicate perfection to his heart’s content. 
Was she really as innocent and confiding as she 
seemed, he wondered, or did she dimly appre- 
ciate the significance of this dash over these 
miles of prairie with him? He questioned if 
many girls of her age, — if brought up in other 

158 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


and more normal surroundings — could have 
been prevailed upon to take the present trip, 
alone with him, out into this quiet immensity? 
To be sure, she was married to him, which, in 
one way seemed to mitigate the circumstances a 
trifle, but in another way their peculiar position 
and relations would warrant a bit of distrust 
upon the part of any girl. He caught himself 
surmising whether she had given a thought to 
just how frail and helpless she would have been 
in his hands if he chose to identify himself with 
the large proportion of the modern generation 
of young men, — willing and eager to take 
an unfair advantage of a girl, placed as she 
was, entirely in his power? And many men 
would have argued that the very fact of his 
marriage, even though only a nominal bond, 
would have entitled him to various and sundry 
privileges, — while Fordyce would have given 
worlds, at that moment, to have felt himself free 
to avail himself of even one or two minor favors, 
such as clasping the slender fingers, so temptingly 
near his own; but the desire was suppressed 
almost before it had attained a definite form. 

Time flies, in direct violation of all known 
laws of speed when one is living in a world of 
fancy, and it was with a perceptible start that 

159 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


the man saw that they were nearing their des- 
tination. Glancing at his companion, he found 
her still lost in the most profound reverie, so 
deep that repeated stirrings upon his part failed 
to elicit any response, and not until he had been 
forced to remark for the second time, “ Here 
we are, Mrs. Fordyce,” did she descend from 
her clouds sufficiently to notice her actual sur- 
roundings. 

The long low ranch-house gleamed with 
hospitable light, and old Joe, himself, caught 
Barbara in his arms and lifted her down to the 
ground before her husband could claim the 
privilege. Alton, — prepared for a Spartan 
simplicity, which was his insular idea of a ranch, 
— was astounded to find himself being ushered 
into a long living-room, the polished floor of 
which was covered with beautiful and costly 
rugs; with row after row of book-cases, 
crammed to overflowing with fine editions; a 
tremendous fireplace, easily six feet in width; 
huge easy-chairs and “ sleepy-hollow ” couches; 
a concert-grand piano in the far comer; and 
above all — electricity I 

Barbara had entered the house like one in a 
dream, and after quietly standing and gazing 
around upon each dearly remembered nook and 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


comer for a few moments, she turned to Alton 
with both hands extended in a gesture of wel- 
come, saying, 

“ This is really and truly home , — I do so 
hope you will like it, as I do ! ” 

It was so far removed from being the prim- 
itive place of his imagination that he found 
himself looking forward with untold interest and 
pleasure to even an indefinite sojourn at the 
“ 2BarA,” and he finally said good-night and 
took himself off to bed with a pleasurable sen- 
sation of peace and contentment taking posses- 
sion of his heart. 

They had only been at the ranch two days 
when Alton received word that the “ game had 
flown,” — the entire Walton family, accom- 
panied by Alton’s highly sympathetic lawyer, 
who evidently was hand in glove with the im- 
postors, having pulled up stakes and dis- 
appeared between two days, leaving the place in 
charge of an elderly negro caretaker from 
whom absolutely no information could be 
obtained. The only concrete fact which could 
be gleaned was that Mr. Walton had drawn 
$20,000 from the Laredo banks, the day before, 
— that sum being on deposit there in Barbara’s 
name, but subject to himself as guardian, — and 

i6i 


II 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


that this sum had taken wings, along with him. 
It transpired later, in the course of the subse- 
quent conferences necessary between Barbara’s 
husband and the lawyer whom he engaged to put 
the affairs of the estate in proper order, that the 
man’s name was Dixon, as Alton had surmised, 
and that he had quietly sold out his property in 
Laredo and taken up his residence in Butte, in 
order to call himself Walton, and so escape 
notice from any of his erstwhile friends while he 
engineered his little scheme of marrying his 
wealthy young ward into his own family circle. 


To Alton, the ensuing weeks spent on the 
ranch constituted one of the most wonderful and 
delightful experiences of his delightfully varied 
career. Barbara was more than ever like a 
happy child, released from her more serious 
duties to run wild over the country which she had 
not seen for so long. She seemed indefatigable, 
and many and many a night the husky young 
Englishman betook himself to his bed, too tired 
in both mind and body to do aught save fall 
into heavy, dreamless slumber. On fine days 
there were long rides on horseback, to visit all 
those particular haunts which she loved from 


62 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


her childish recollection of them, — then she 
must go over every foot of the huge ranch with 
big Joe McMurtry, — she must see each animal, 
meet each man, and listen to tale after tale of 
her dead father and mother. On rainy days 
there was always a blazing fire in the big stone 
fireplace, and many were the hours spent by the 
two In browsing among the fascinating shelves 
of the library and In comparing notes as to their 
personal likes and dislikes of the great names 
enshrined upon those well-filled walls. 

It was a long time before Barbara could 
bring herself to don any of the lovely things 
which she had brought with her, and Fordyce 
had ceased to urge It, not liking to appear too 
insistent upon his own desires. It seemed to 
him that, of late, Barbara had grown a little 
more responsive, — and at times he had caught 
her studying him intently when she thought his 
attention was safely occupied In another direc- 
tion. He was sure that her hand lingered a 
wee bit longer In his, now-a-days, at their morn- 
ing and evening salutations, and with all his 
might he held himself In leash, sternly and 
absolutely refusing to allow his manner to 
change by so much as a hair’s breadth from the 
cheery, big-brother type of affection which he 
163 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


had adopted as the surest and safest guard for 
his unruly feelings. 

At last, when their stay at the ranch had 
prolonged itself into the seventh week, Fordyce 
received a large budget of English mail, which, 
for some unaccountable reason, had been held 
for a time at the hotel in Butte. One letter 
was from Frances Stanhope (now Frances Stan- 
hope Fordyce!), demanding that he come home 
at once, and bring his little bride straight to her, 
at her old home, where she and Harry were now 
living until the wrath of his father should have 
cooled a little and their plans could be more 
carefully matured. She assured him that she 
knew that she (Frances) would just love Bar- 
bara, and that Alton’s step-mother was just as 
eager as herself to welcome the bride. Also she 
imparted the news that the old Baronet was ill, 
— from a sudden stroke of apoplexy, it was 
said, — and she thought his eldest son should be 
thinking of returning home at once, to take his 
rightful place by the old man’s side. 

Another letter was from his step-mother and 
he hurriedly tore it open. 

Dearest Alton (she wrote). 

You could have knocked me 
down with a feather when Fanny read 
164 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


me your letter to her, and finally 
forced it into my head what an aston- 
ishing thing you had done I Such a 
foolishly chivalrous thing, dear, and 
yet so very like what one might have 
expected of your big-hearted, boyish 
notions of duty ! At least I am glad, 
on your account, that the child is so 
sweet and gentle and attractive, and 
I sincerely hope she is all your let- 
ter says. Anyway, my dear boy, 
bring her home to me, and you know 
I shall love her for your sake, and I 
hope, for her own, as well. 

Harry and Fan eloped a couple 
of weeks ago, which escapade has 
thoroughly incensed your father, and 
I can’t help surmising that, now, he 
would give a good deal to have his 
“ big boy ” back to depend upon, if 
only it wouldn’t humble his pride too 
much to ask it of you I He is a pretty 
feeble old man, Alton, and I think if, 
some day, you should just appear 
here in your old place, and drop into 
your accustomed niche in the home 
affairs, he would be more than glad 
to get you back again, — and no 
questions asked! I have given in- 
structions to the solicitors to forward 
to you, under safe conveyance, the 
smaller box of your mother’s jewels, 
165 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


which I feel sure you ought to want 
for Barbara, now, — although the 
larger case can wait until she comes 
to take her proper place here. She 
wouldn’t have much use for the family 
jewels out there on a wild western 
ranch, but she will expect something 
of the sort from you, in all probability. 
(Here Alton smiled openly, as he 
thought how little his wife seemed to 
expect of him, in any way, let alone 
family jewels and position!) 

Tell Barbara that we are all 
waiting to welcome her with open 
arms, and that I shall come to Liver- 
pool to be the first to greet you, at 
any time you may appoint! With 
much love, always affectionately, the 
“ Mater.” 

Enclosed in his letter was a note for Bar- 
bara, which Alton laid in a conspicuous position 
upon her writing-desk, and having hastily 
perused his other mail, he changed his clothes 
and betook himself to his horse for a long ride 
before dinner, “ to give his new perplexities an 
airing,” as he expressed it to himself. He had 
much to think about which bothered and puz- 
zled him more than he realized, and his ride 
unconsciously extended over a larger territory 

i66 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


than he had designed, so' that it was after six 
when he finally entered the house, with apologies 
already framed for his tardiness. 

Instead of his wife dressed and waiting for 
his late arrival he was amazed to find Barbara 
stretched at full length upon the couch before 
the fire which had burned out to a bed of glow- 
ing embers, her cheek pillowed upon her hand, 
and her eyes closed in profound slumber. The 
light from the dying fire played fitfully over her 
sweet face, and it was not until Fordyce had been 
seated for some moments in the chimney-corner 
that he made the discovery that she was not 
completely attired, and that there were traces of 
tears upon her long lashes. Evidently she had 
paused, midway in the process of dressing for 
dinner, donned a soft, clinging, silky thing, and 
run down stairs for something, — then fallen 
asleep before the fire. His step-mother’s note 
was gone from her desk, and he wondered what 
she could have said to make his sensitive little 
wife feel badly, — or what was troubling her. 
The big Englishman was visibly embarrassed 
when his keen and loving scrutiny disclosed the 
fact that her white lounging-robe had become 
disarranged, so that one white shoulder was just 
peeping out of its soft covering, and he feasted 
167 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


his eyes upon it and her unconscious loveliness as 
long as he dared. Then tiptoeing out to the 
piazza, he closed the door with a bang and 
stamped his feet heavily to give warning of his 
approach. 

When he finally entered the room, his vision 
had fled and he went off to dress in anything 
but a pleasant humor. As he stood in the living- 
room, an hour later, waiting for Barbara to 
make her appearance, he wondered what she 
would say if she were to know of his deliberate 
spying upon her, en negligee , — before dinner. 
Across his musings swept a radiant little figure 
which made the beholder catch his breath for a 
moment, — a vision of fleecy blue and white 
tulle, with silver knots on the bodice and 
around the skirt, — a vision which halted before 
him, swept him an exaggerated courtesy, and 
then held out a friendly hand to his. 

“ How do you like it? ” she questioned. 

“ I think you must be a dream-princess,” 
returned Alton, forcing a laugh to hide the 
break in his voice. “ I’m so afraid I’ll wake 
up and find you gone that I hardly dare to 
breathe. Are you sure you’re realf ” 

“Most prosaically real, — as you ought to 
know, by this time! Dinner was announced 
168 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


some time ago, and I am quite ready for it, — 
come ! ” and she tripped lightly ahead of him 
in the direction of the dining-room. 

From the appearance of the bountifully 
spread table with its hot-house flowers and its 
softly shaded candles, one could never surmise 
that all about them stretched miles upon miles 
of sand and sage-brush, — for two of the late 
owner’s pet hobbies had been his greenhouses 
and his electric-light plant, — and Fordyce tried 
to picture to himself the open-eyed astonish- 
ment of his family and friends if they could have 
taken one peep in upon that little tableau of 
their dinner-hour. As the meal progressed, the 
man found his mind again running upon the old 
topic of how sweet and dainty the girl opposite 
him looked in this, the first one of her new gowns 
to be tried on. He had never seen her in full 
evening attire, and the pink shaded lights, 
gleaming so softly on her white neck and beau- 
tifully rounded shoulders and arms, affected him 
more than he liked to admit, even to himself. 
The daintiness and witchery of her caused his 
blood to race through his veins as strong wine 
might have done, and he was surprised to find 
that his normally healthy appetite was actually 
suffering from the proximity of this slip of a 
girl across the table from him. As dessert 
169 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


came on and the Chinese servant left them alone 
to finish their meal he thought of telling her of 
his home letters and of his double call to resume 
his old place in the home affairs, — then at some 
trifling remark of hers he decided to put off the 
evil moment as long as possible. That it would 
prove an exceedingly evil moment for him, he 
had not the last doubt, — for he had no idea that 
his wife would be willing to go back with him, 
as yet. 

He felt that his duty pointed that he should 
return to England at once, — for as eldest son, 
so many burdens could be assumed by his broad 
shoulders which would perceptibly lighten the 
cares of the old BarOnet, and make the days of 
his declining years more comfortable. But, on 
the other hand, would Barbara be willing to 
leave her lately re-discovered country and go 
with him to his people? Would she care to take 
the long journey back, only to face the latent, 
if unexpressed curiosity which would necessarily 
meet her upon every side? He was still pre- 
occupied and puzzling over the problem when 
they rose from the table and settled themselves 
in the cosy living room where Barbara busied 
herself with some trifling bit of embroidery, 
while her companion lighted his old pipe and sat 
for some time moodily gazing into the fire. 

170 


CHAPTER THIRTEEN. 


A " T last Barbara broke the long silence. 

“ Ybu never said how you liked 
the dress,” she remarked tenta- 
tively, with a shy look at his bowed 
head. 

“It’s a perfect stunner!” returned For- 
dyce, succinctly. “ I had almost given up hope 
of your wearing any of them I ” 

“ Thank you, Alton, for not insisting,” she 
said, slowly, — “ somehow, it was very hard to 
make the break and take off the black, — just at 
first, — and I didn’t know that you — ” 

“ I know, — I know,” murmured the man, — 
“ that’s why I stopped urging you to hurry 
about it. But now — do you know how lovely 
you are in that thing, child? ” 

“ Am I really? ” parried Barbara, dimpling 
gleefully. “No one ever called me lovely 
before ! ” 

“ Probably no one was ever fortunate 
enough to see you in an evening-gown before, 
were they? ” 


17 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Of course not I You know perfectly well 
that I never had one before ! But why are you 
so solemn, this evening, Alton ? Have you had 
any bad news from home ? Mrs. Fordyce wrote 
me a sweet little letter of welcome I ” but he 
noted that she evinced no intention of showing 
it to him, and wondered at the omission. 

Fordyce drew one long breath and took the 
plunge. He felt that it was now or never, and 
the perplexing thing had better be decided at 
once and have the suspense over with. He drew 
his step-mother’s letter and the one from 
Frances from his pocket, and bending over his 
wife where she sat in the sofa corner, he laid 
them both, opened, in her lap with a gesture 
which commanded her to read. Then he sat 
down in the opposite comer of the big couch 
and studied her intently. 

At first she smiled a little as she read, — 
then looked preternaturally sober as she finished 
and handed them back to him. 

“Are you going?” she inquired. 

“ I’m not at all sure ! ” returned the man, 
seriously. 

Barbara appeared to be trying to frame 
some question exactly to her liking and she sat 
172 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


with knitted brows, intently regarding the open 
fire for several moments. Then discarding her 
intended interrogation, 

“ Am I going, if you do? ” was her next 
sudden query. 

Alton regarded her keenly for the space of 
a full minute, — then laughed shortly. 

“ That’s exactly what I’ve been asking 
myself, ever since the letter came, and I am 
apparently no nearer a solution of the problem 
than I was before it ever came up I ” 

“ What a dreadfully foolish boy it is,” 
smiled Barbara, tenderly, — “when — no! I 
will not tease! But why ask useless questions 
of yourself, when you should ask them of the 
person most intimately concerned ? Do you 
wish me to go? ” 

“ Not if you would really rather not! Of 
course I don’t want to leave you, but if you 
positively wouldn’t like to go, so suddenly, I 
might have to go over alone, for a little while, — 
and I certainly do not wish to leave you out here 
where there isn’t even one other woman on the 
place 1 And yet, — where could you go, — and 
be safe? ” 

“ With you, of course,” answered Barbara, 
softly. 


73 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ fVhat! ” The face of the Englishman 
was a study in mixed emotions, — surprise and 
delight being the most prominent. “ You don’t 
mean it, do you, Girl? ” 

“Well — don’t bite mel” protested the 
girl, laughingly. “ Pray, Sir Man ! Why 
shouldn’t your wife go home with you, to be 
presented to your family, — unless, perchance, 
you are ashamed of her? ” 

It was a flagrant provocation, of a kind 
which Alton would not have believed she knew 
the art, but it had the desired effect of over- 
throwing his moodiness. He dropped to his 
knees beside her and lifting a soft trailing end 
of filmy tulle, held it to his lips. 

“ Thaf s just how ashamed of her,” and his 
voice broke a little. “ There’s no one over 
there who can begin to hold a candle to you, 
my dear, — and I shall be so happy and proud 
to take you over with me, when the time comes. 
Now, what did the Mater say to you in her 
letter? Aren’t you going to show it to me?” 

Barbara flushed, — most becomingly, it must 
be admitted, — and took a letter from her work 
basket, as if intending to show it to him, — then 
blushed more deeply and thrust it back into the 
depths of the basket. Alton sat with his eyes 


74 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


fastened upon her countenance, watching in 
amazement as the crimson tide suffused her face 
and even imparted a faint pink glow to the lovely 
neck and shoulders. Why, — oh, why must she 
be so exquisitely entrancing, when he, by his own 
arrangement, was cut off from any demonstra- 
tions of affection except such as might be per- 
mitted to a big brother? And those, — 
according to Alton’s ethics, — meant very mea- 
gre satisfaction indeed. 

“ Please, — not now ! Some time I’ll show 
you, — but not tonight ! I’ll tell you what we’ll 
do! Now that, perhaps, we’re going to be 
‘ produced ’ for the inspection of our grand 
‘ in laws ’ over the sea. I’ll try on all these cos- 
tumes and see how they suit your High Might- 
iness — and if they will do for England. You 
can lie here at your ease and I will pass in 
review before you! Now, don’t object! The 
audience will please be seated, — and the per- 
formance will begin in no time ! ” 

She flitted away and Alton stretched himself 
lazily on the vacated sofa to watch for her 
reappearance, which was not long delayed. 
Creation followed creation until the man’s head 
fairly spun with the kaleidoscopic array of pale 
shades which advanced gayly from one door, — 


175 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


paused to turn soberly around before him, — 
and then made their exit by the other doorway. 
She certainly was lovely, and it seemed to the 
interested watcher that in each new costume she 
was more wonderful than in the last. Finally 
she said, shyly, 

“ There’s just one more, — a heavenly 
lavender one, — but I can’t do it up the back! 
Perhaps you — I wonder if you would mind? ” 

Without waiting for his answer she fled up 
to her room and straightway returned, holding 
up trailing draperies of palest violet over white, 
heavy with white bead-work and trimmed with 
wreaths of little chiffon rosebuds, and waited for 
Alton to fasten the rows and rows of intricate 
hooks which formed a labyrinth about the back 
of the gown. The man’s hands were clumsy, 
partly through his inexperience and partly 
through embarrassment, and more than once his 
fingers came into direct contact with the cool, 
white shoulders. All of the primeval man in 
his make-up was aroused, his blood was racing 
madly through his veins at the nearness of her, 
— at the delicious sense of intimacy implied by 
the mere act of assisting at her toilette, — and 
the strain of subduing his natural feelings was 
beginning to be more than he could bear. Sud- 
176 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


denly, as a little tendril of her hair brushed his 
cheek as he bent to his task, his abnormal control 
over himself gave away, and pushing Barbara 
away from him, almost roughly, he flung him- 
self out of the room and rushed upstairs to his 
own apartment where he walked the floor with 
folded arms and tightly clenched teeth until far 
into the night. 

Back and forth — back and forth he paced, 
— six strides one way, — turn, — six strides back 
again, — turn, — then the same dreary round 
over again, while his brain was in a chaos of 
futile rebellion at the foolish circumstances in 
which he had placed himself in his effort to be 
absolutely fair to the girl he had married. 
About once a minute he asked himself why, in 
the name of all things reasonable and unreason- 
able, he had ever come out to this ranch with 
her, in the first place? Why could he not have 
been content to allow her to come out here alone 
and stay for a while ? Why had he ever put him- 
self in a position that he might have known would 
become more than mere mortal man could stand ? 
It made no difference how often he assured him- 
self that he must be patient, — must lead the 
life he had mapped out for himself (and which 
he had so fatuously informed Allerton that he 
177 


12 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


was strong enough to carry out!) for perhaps 
many years to come! Who could tell? Any- 
way, it must go on until she gave him leave to 
change, — and she had promised to let him know, 
honestly, if she ever came to love him as he 
wished her to, — what more could a man ask 
for? And yet, — he did ask for more — much 
more ! He had been a blind, blind fool, — in 
his proud belief in the strength of his better 
nature, — in his own strength, — and in his 
utter and unrealized ignorance of the meaning 
of real love and passion ! And yet, — some- 
times, when she was so near and so alluring, he 
was sorely tempted to catch her in his arms, — 
even roughly, if need be, — to hold her close 
and shower his kisses on the sweet childish face, 
the unspoiled mouth and the great, wondering 
eyes, — to see if the real woman-soul within her 
could not be forced to awaken under the rush 
and passion of his own ardent feelings. And 
the maddening part of the whole thing was that 
he knew perfectly well that he neither could or 
would do any one of these things, — that he 
should meet her on the morrow just as he had 
any day for all these long weeks (except that 
he should have to ask her pardon for leaving 
her so abruptly, this evening.) He wondered 
178 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


if she had understood how he felt, and why 
he had rushed off so precipitately, leaving her 
standing, a little disconsolate figure in her 
strange finery, gazing after him with a puzzled 
frown and trembling on the brink of tears. 
Anyway, if she should be cool and distant In 
her manner, — as she well might be, — and 
seemed to expect an apology, of course he would 
make one, and tell her as much as he decently 
could of the cause of his action, — but if she 
should be just as usual, — If she simply ignored 
the whole unfortunate occurrence, — then — his 
heart gave a great bound of excitement ! — then 
It could only mean one thing, — that she had 
come to a realization of how things were with 
him, and that her own heart was not absolutely 
unresponsive ! 

Just as he arrived at this point In his mus- 
ings he was startled by what sounded like a 
smothered sob on the other side of the door to 
her room which he was at that moment pass- 
ing in his restless walking to and fro. Could 
she be crying? He paused In his circuit of the 
room and listened Intently. Yes! She cer- 
tainly was weeping, and the sound of the choked- 
down sobs brought him to himself as a dash of 
cold water would hav^e done. What a fool he 


179 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


was, — a fool and a brute, as well I — only 
thinking of himself and his own discomforts, 
when here she had been, nobody knew how long, 

— probably cut to the heart by his boorish 
treatment of her! He must crush down his 
own discontent over their arrangements and try 
to make her as happy as he could, under the 
peculiar circumstances ! 

If he could only have known what was going 
on in the girl’s mind at that moment, his spirits 
would have risen like an inflated balloon, instead 
of dropping like so much lead as he tapped softly 
on the door to attract her attention. 

“ Barbara,” he called, gently. 

She appeared to be oblivious to his solicitude, 
and he stood with one hand upon the knob, and 
his whole immense frame thrown forward 
against the door panels, listening with anxiety 
and fear tugging at his heart-strings, while the 
sobs grew quieter and came at longer intervals, 

— but still no answer to his voice. At last he 
shook the door and spoke more urgently. 

“ Barbara Girl! What is it? Are you ill? 
Can’t I do anything? Only speak to me, dear ! ” 

He must have turned the door handle, ever 
so little, unconsciously, for all at once the door 
against which he had been leaning swung easily 
i8o 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


and quietly back upon its hinges and left him in 
the doorway, staring blankly into the room. 
For a long moment he was dazed. How came 
that door to open? The door which he had 
fastened with his own hands the evening of their 
arrival at the ranch? The door which he had 
fastened securely, and then given Barbara the 
key with the remark, “ I suppose it will look 
more natural to the ‘ Chink ’ if we have these 
connecting rooms, little girl, — but the door is 
locked, and you may keep the key, yourself ! ” 
He was busy, reconstructing, in his mind’s eye, 
the peculiar expression which he remembered 
her face had worn, as she had thanked him for 
the key, when he beheld a little heap of tumbled 
finery on the floor before the dead fire. He had 
not dared glance in the direction of the bed, 
before, being so sure that it would be occupied, 
but now, one hasty look told him that it had 
not been slept in, and a surreptitious peep at the 
clock on mantel showed a quarter of one ! 
Evidently the poor child had been grieving over 
his rudeness for the greater part of four hours, 
and his heart smote him as he spoke once more, 
quite quietly, in order not to startle her. 

“ Barbara, dear, can’t you tell me what is 
the trouble? ” 

i8i 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


She started, as if coming back from some 
far flight of fancy, and looked up into his calm 
face as he stood there so tall and quiet, beside 
her, — then she smiled, a rather April-like smile, 
to be sure, — for crystal drops still hung on her 
long lashes, — and held out her hands to be 
assisted to her feet. 

“ Why has my little ‘ Dream Princess ’ been 
weeping? ” demanded Alton, playfully. 

“ Don’t ask me now, — please don’t ask 
me 1 ” she replied, shaking her head. 

“Is it the way in which I behaved? At 
least you will tell me that, — or I shall feel very 
uncomfortable ! ” 

“ No — it has nothing at all to do with 
that! Now don’t apologize, — for I am sure I 
understood it.’’ 

“Oh, my dear!” exclaimed Alton, “you 
understood?” Then catching himself up 
quickly, and with a sudden change of tone, he 
demanded, sternly, “ Barbara ! How came that 
door to be unlocked? ” 

The girl smiled an inscrutable little smile. 

“ I unlocked it, myself, ten minutes after you 
gave me the key! ” 

“ And you mean to tell me that it has been 
like that, all these weeks, when I distinctly told 
you to the contrary? ” 


182 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Yes — I mean just that.” 

Barbara, why do you delight in making 
it so hard for me to live up to our agreement? 
Is it your idea to test me? Because if it is — 
where is that key? ” 

” Here,” answered she, taking it from a 
drawer in her desk. 

“ Give it to me, — and I’ll lock it for keeps, 
this time I ” exclaimed Fordyce decidedly, ex- 
tending his hand. 

“ On the contrary, I think I will take care 
of it myself,” returned the girl and still with the 
wise little smile which the man couldn’t under- 
stand she walked deliberately to the window and 
stood gazing out into the night. 

“ Barbara, dear, please give it to me,” urged 
the man as one would speak to a refractory 
child, — “ you know how I feel towards you, — 
you know what I promised you there in the 
train! Don’t make me break my word about 
your person by trying to take it from you by 
force! Frankly — I don’t trust myself! ” 

The slender girl before him raised her hand 
and with all her strength flung the key far away 
into the night, and turned to meet the man’s 
startled gaze, holding out both hands to his, 
saying, 

183 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ But you see, I have more confidence in 
you than you have in yourself! Now good- 
night (or rather good-morning!) — go to bed, 
at once, as I shall, — and in the morning we will 
talk about England, again !” 

Alton stood silent, clasping the little hands 
in his and with his gaze fastened closely upon 
her, as if hypnotized, noting the implicit trust 
and confidence in her face, — also that she still 
wore the treacherous gown which had worked 
his own undoing earlier in the evening. He 
wondered how, after his permitting his feelings 
to run away with him so, earlier that night, she 
could be brave enough to trust him again, even 
if it was, as he more than half suspected, the 
bravery of innocence, — and he admired her all 
the more for it. He then and there registered 
a vow that he would win her unqualified respect, 
whether or not it should be vouchsafed to him 
to gain her love. After what seemed an eternity 
of silence to the man’s wrought-up nerves, she 
raised her face to his, mutely inviting the kiss 
which he reverently placed upon her forehead, 
and then he returned to his room, — but not to 
sleep ! 

On her own side of the door, Barbara, after 
waiting until all was quiet in the next room, care- 
184 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


fully laid the lavender gown away in the lowest 
tray of the trunk, and extinguished her light, 
whispering to herself, 

“There! You won’t see the light again 
until he needn’t run away to keep from showing 
his feelings, — and I don’t think that time is so 
very far away, either 1 ” 


85 


CHAPTER FOURTEEN. 


ONIGHT, we will be at Fair- 
mead,” remarked the tall man 
leaning on the ship’s rail, to the 
little figure in cap and steamer- 
coat, by his side. “ Do you 
dread it as much as you feared you would? ” 

“ No-o-o, not exactly ‘ dread ’ it,” hesitated 
his companion, “ but I can’t help wishing it was 
all over, though! Do you think they will like 
me, really? ” 

“ Surest thing you know! ” answered Alton 
merrily. “ They’re bound to! ” 

“ Do you really think everyone will be nice 
to me, just because you have married me and 
brought me home with you? ” 

Alton’s face took on a stern expression, as 
he patted her shoulder and answered, “ Well, 
if they’re not, — then someone is bound to get 
hurt, — that’s all! But of course they will, 
Girlie! The mater is just the finest ever, — 
and the Governor is true blue, if he is crusty on 
the surface. Fan is a dear girl, and you will 



A MODERN KNIGHT 


like her, — and as for Harry, he’s young, and 
inclined to be a bit ‘ freshie,’ but he is as fine a 
chap as ever lived, and he will adore you, in a 
week. Don’t look so worried, it is only his 
way, — and Fanny won’t mind it in the least, — 
they have known each other all their lives, you 
know, and she is used to him.” 

The day was one of those gorgeous blue 
and gold color symphonies which cause one to 
catch one’s breath in sheer wondering amaze 
that anything so transcendently beautiful should 
be permitted to this wicked world, and Mr. and 
Mrs. Alton Fordyce were idly watching the 
hustle and bustle attendant upon the landing of 
any transatlantic liner. Soon they joined the 
stream of departing passengers, and at the first 
available spot for an outsider to greet them, 
Barbara was smothered in the motherly embrace 
of a pair of long arms, while a cheery voice said, 
over her head, with an accent of haste, 

“ Well, Alton dear, here I am, as I prom- 
ised ! How finely you do look, boy ! I am so 
glad to get hold of you both, — and I thought 
you would never come ashore. Dear child, 
lift up your face, and let me have a look at you I 
Well, no wonder this stolid young man sur- 
rendered at once, without a shot fired ! I would 


187 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


myself! But, gracious, child, how old did he 
say you were? Surely you can’t be nineteen! ” 
Amid much laughing talk and chatter they 
were finally ensconced in a first-class carriage, 
en route for Fairmead. Mrs. Fordyce, cheerful 
and full of delight at Alton’s return, sat with 
Barbara, the two of them facing the big man, 
whose unaffected pleasure at this cordial wel- 
come was patent to all who happened to glance 
at his beaming face, and Barbara took an im- 
mediate liking to this wholesome, elderly woman 
whose hair was turning gray, and who looked 
at her so kindly. The elder woman, evidently 
realizing that in her shyness at the meeting and 
in her unaccustomed surrounding, the girl would 
care to talk little, had contented herself with 
prattling to Alton like a school girl, giving him 
the home news and the gossip of the little town, 
only asking some question of her young com- 
panion at long intervals, and the girl listened 
with a wide-awake interest to all the chronicles 
of the home doings. Occasionally she answered 
some question about her trip, and after a while 
the conversation lagged, until the guard an- 
nounced the little station which was their desti- 
nation. 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


The next few hours passed like a dream to 
Barbara, — the ride from the tiny doll-house of 
a station in the quiet golden afternoon, through 
the peaceful English country-side, — the gray 
old Hall, with its turrets overgrown with ivy 
and creepers, and its huge iron gates with the 
Fordyce arms carved in the panels, — the after- 
noon-tea, informal, and served in the dark oak- 
paneled hall, — and then the long and most 
formal dinner, presided over by the old Baronet, 
who had insisted upon taking his place at the 
head of the table upon the night of his son’s 
return to his home. He had welcomed his new 
daughter-in-law with all the impressive ceremony 
of his old-fashioned courtesy, and a rather stiff 
formality, but beyond the necessary civilities he 
declined to go, appearing to view her with more 
or less suspicion. His only direct acknowledg- 
ment of her at the dinner-table was to politely 
inquire if she did not find it inconvenient, living 
in a section of the country where she could only 
see Indians about her, — and when Barbara re- 
plied, just as seriously as he had put the question, 
that one liked Indians very much better than 
some white people, when one came to know 
them, he made a queer little noise in his throat, 
and gave her a more approving glance than any 
189 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


she had been favored with before; while For- 
dyce could have hugged her for the tactful man- 
ner in which she had humored the old man 
without once attempting to correct his erroneous 
impression of her country. 

Mrs. Fordyce insisted upon Barbara’s retir- 
ing early after the fatigues of her long journey, 
and her quiet influence was of so much avail 
that nine o’clock found the girl ready for bed, 
leaning upon her window-ledge and gazing 
dreamily out at the night sky with its soft black- 
ness and its twinkling stars. With a pre- 
liminary soft tap Mrs. Fordyce entered and 
advanced on tiptoe to the dreaming girl, laying 
her hand lightly upon her hair. Barbara looked 
up with a smile and welcomed her. 

“ Come, dearie,” began the elder woman, 
“ let me tuck you up in bed, and then if you 
are not sleepy and feel that you would like to 
talk awhile. I’d love to stay with you as long as 
you wish me.” 

Barbara submitted, and after persuading her 
companion to sit close to the tremendous four- 
posted bed in which she felt almost lost, she began 
to answer Mrs. Fordyce’s questions, — hesitat- 
ingly and shyly, at first, but as she warmed up 
to her subject she forgot all her self-conscious- 
190 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


ness and launched out into her story as simply 
and naturally as she had told it to Alton, with 
the essential difference that now she could go 
farther into details and explain the particulars 
of the bogus relatives and their plot against her. 

Alton’s step-mother led her on, tact- 
fully and cleverly, to talk of their days at the 
2BarA ranch — and all the good times 
they had enjoyed there, and she finally 
rose, saying, 

“Now you ought to go to sleep, dearie, — 
and I must go and send those two men off to 
bed, — else they will talk all night. You must 
forgive me, childie, for tucking you away off 
here in this corner by yourself, but you see, I 
do know a little something of your domestic 
arrangements, and the locksmith whom we 
ordered to attend to the doors of the regular 
guest suite failed to appear. We’ll have him 
tomorrow! ” 

“ But, dear Mrs. Fordyce, believe me, it is 
not at all necessary! ” expostulated the girl, and 
she rapidly recounted to the older woman the 
story of the night which had culminated in her 
husband’s and her difference of opinion over the 
key, and which she had omitted before from 
some undefined feeling that it was not necessary 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


to the clearness and lucidity of her narrative. 
Mrs. Fordyce gasped. 

“ My dear child! You are the most aston- 
ishing piece of humanity that I have ever come 
across! No wonder Alton is thoroughly fas- 
cinated by you ! Any man would be flattered to 
be treated as a Deity, instead of a mere man! 
But you may just thank your lucky stars that 
you have fallen into the hands of a clean, decent- 
minded young fellow like Alton, — and do you 
think you can ever learn to love him as he de- 
serves? If you are ever going to want your 
freedom, for pity’s sake, take it now, — for he 
cares more than I would have believed him cap- 
able of caring for anyone, — and the boy is too 
manly and true to deserve a broken heart at your 
hands, in payment for his Quixotic foolishness! 
You are too young to realize how much his 
reserve and his almost superhuman control over 
himself are costing him, — but it breaks my 
heart to see it. He is so frightfully changed 
since he went away! If you weren’t such a 
child, I could make you understand better.” 

“ Perhaps I do understand, — more than you 
know,” whispered Barbara, holding tightly to 
Mrs. Fordyce’s hand. “ Can’t you see that 
ever since that night when he rushed away from 


192 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


me so hurriedly, I have been realizing more and 
more what it means to him to keep that promise 
he gave me? And truly — I didn’t ask it of 
him I He was so dear and kind and ‘ trustable ’ 
that I think I would have married him, anyway, 

— feeling that anything was better than Cousin 
John, — but he insisted that I was to be his wife 
in name only, — and his little sister in all other 
respects, — and it is perfectly true that at that 
time I didn’t know what a very wonderful 
thing he was doing. I know better — now — 
and — ” 

“ You mean — ? ” demanded Mrs. Fordyce. 

“ I mean that during those long hours when 
I was crouched on the rug before the fire in my 
room, listening to him, striding up and down 
his floor until early morning, it suddenly broke 
in on me, like a great light, what his strange 
actions meant. And I think the child in me 
died, then and there, and the woman was bom, 

— for I understood how sorely tried he must 
be, — understood — and — was glad ! ” 

“ Glad ! ” repeated her listener, quickly. 

“ Yes, glad! ” affirmed the girl. “ Glad be- 
cause — well, because then I knew in a flash that 
I cared for him, — really was beginning to care 
in the way he would like to have me, — and now. 


13 


193 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


this comradeship has come to mean almost as 
much to me as it does to him, — it is a symbol of 
his utter trustworthiness, — and oh ! I love it I ” 

“ Then, for Heaven’s sake, Barbara, why 
let him torture himself with the idea that you 
are indifferent? Why not let him know the 
truth? It’s worth a good deal to him. Let 
me tell him for you, — there’s a dear, — be a 
good child and let me do it, and everyone will 
be so much happier I ” 

Barbara’s face, as she sat upright in bed, 
gleamed in the half-light from the open hall 
door and her voice shook a trifle. 

“ Please, no, Mrs. Fordyce! I would rather 
tell him myself when I am sure the right time 
has arrived. You see, I made a promise that 
if that time ever came I would tell him honestly, 

— and he trusts me to keep my word.” 

“ But, dear child, it will be a hard thing for 
you to tell him yourself, and if you would only 
allow me to give him the littlest hint, he would so 
gladly do all the rest! He could make it so 
easy for you, — why not, dearie? ” 

“ No,” insisted Barbara, soberly, “ you see, 
it is this way. It seems now as if I would never 
be able to tell him, — for it looks pretty hard, 

— but every day it grows more and more easy, 


194 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


until I don’t think I shall really mind at all. 
And I have a feeling that when the really right 
time comes, it isn’t going to be hard at all — 
just the natural thing to do! I shall know by 
that! ” 

“ Very well, dearie, — just as you think best, 
— but you are certainly an odd child ! Good- 
night, now, and pleasant dreams, — and remem- 
ber, I am not Mrs. Fordyce to you any more 
than to Alton. He calls me ‘ Mater.’ ” And she 
drifted out, closing the door softly behind her, 
and betook herself to the library below where 
Alton and his father were deep in a discussion 
of the political situation, as naturally as if there 
had not been more than ten weeks of complete 
estrangement. 

Several weeks later the old man had recov- 
ered sufficiently to risk a three days trip up to 
London to consult a specialist, and the ancient 
house had settled down once more to its cus- 
tomary habit of repose and quiet. The old- 
fashioned garden with its formal little rows of 
box hedges and its immaculate bricked paths was 
looking its best in brave array of reds, gold 
and browns, — all its beauties flung to the fore 
to make an imposing stand against the on- 


*95 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


slaughts of the expected enemy, Jack Frost. 
It was late in the evening, and the harmonies 
of the garden had long ago been blotted out by 
a thick, brooding darkness which could almost 
be felt, and which came in through the windows 
of the house laden with the faint spicy odor of 
chrysanthemums and spruce. A storm was 
brewing in the east which boded no good to 
those unfortunate enough to be caught out in its 
grasp. 

In the big, square hall, which was used as a 
general living-room, with its huge stone fire- 
place and built-in chimney seats at right angles 
to the hearth, a lamp burned steadily upon a 
central table, but the edges of the wainscotted 
old room were in semi-darkness, for the blaze 
on the hearth was wavering and fitful and not 
at all minded to do its share toward the general 
cheeriness. Mrs. Fordyce was working busily 
in the circle of soft, yellow light and sustaining 
a desultory conversation with someone several 
feet away in the shadows by the fire. Barbara 
had retired on the plea of a letter to write, and 
finally the silence became too oppressive for the 
woman to endure. 

“ Alton dear, you’re not happy, — I know 
that! ” she ventured, affectionately. 

196 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Of course I ami” promptly responded 
Alton’s voice from the shadows. 

“ Nonsense I ” expostulated his step-mother. 
” Don’t you suppose I have a pair of perfectly 
good eyes in my head, and that I can see how 
this thing irks you, day in and day out? Your 
sense of duty is too strong for your common 
sense, and it runs away with it and you, tool ” 

Alton puffed a cloud of fragrant smoke into 
the air and dreamily watched it ascend in little 
quivering spirals until it was lost among the 
railings of the balcony which surrounded the 
central opening into the hall from the floor 
above. She waited some time, and as he seemed 
not intending to vouchsafe any answer, she 
demanded, 

“ Of course it is none of my business. Boy, 
but — why did you ever make such a foolish 
promise? ” 

“ That same much maligned sense of duty. 
Mater, which you have just remarked upon 1 ” 
returned the victim of her cross-questioning. 
“ You didn’t think I could be cad enough to take 
such an advantage over that child as it would 
have been without that promise, did you? ” 

“ You couldn’t be a cad, dear, if you tried 
your hardest, — it isn’t in youl But do you 
197 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


really think the game is worth the candle? Is 
she worth it all? ” 

“ There’s not her equal on earth, Mater, — 
I’m more convinced of it every day! That’s 
what makes it so hard, — and so imperative that 
I win her regard ! ” 

“But it is so hard on you, dear! She 
doesn’t realize that, — being only a child in some 
things, and having had a peculiar education, — 
but how can you bear it? Every glance, every 
fleeting touch, every time she appeals to you in 
that pretty, pleading way of hers, must be 
exquisite torture to you, when you love her so. 
I saw’^ you go white when she laid her arm 
across your knee, before the fire, last night, — 
and I don’t see how you manage to endure it ! ” 

“If you insist upon the truth, — it’s a 
veritable hell upon earth. Mater!” exploded 
f brdyce, rising and striding up and down the 
room. 

Mrs. Fordyce looked sorrowfully up at the 
big fellow whose face had all the aspect of a 
troubled boy and took her courage by the throat, 
metaphorically speaking. 

“ Listen, dear,” she began, quietly, “ would 
you like me to tell you a secret, — one which 
might help to comfort your poor starved heart 
198 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


a little bit? ” But before she had finished her 
question Alton was standing before her, tall and 
straight and commanding. 

“ No, thank you. Mater,” he said, “ there 
is only one secret which could do what you say, 
and that must come directly from Barbara’s lips 1 
If you could truthfully swear that she had told 
you that she returned my love, — still I would 
decline to let you say it. She made a promise, 
as well as I, — and until she wishes to fulfill it, 
the matter had really better drop ! ” 

‘‘ Alton! ” ventured a timid little voice, and 
both its hearers gave a guilty start while Alton 
colored painfully as Barbara’s head appeared 
over the railing above. “ Don’t go to bed till 
I come down, — I want to talk to you. You’ll 
wait? ” 

“ Certainly I’ll wait,” replied Alton, and 
then as they heard her door close he turned to 
his companion with a look of entreaty. 

“ Lordy! You don’t suppose she heard all 
that, do you. Mater? I wouldn’t have had it 
overheard for a good deal I I don’t want any- 
one to think that I’m ‘ cry-babying ’ over some- 
thing I went into with my eyes wide open ! ” 
Mrs. Fordyce smiled a very knowing smile 
as she hastily gathered up her sewing para- 


199 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


phemalia and prepared for flight. “ Discretion 
itself, you see, Alton,” she laughed as he watched 
her in amazed silence, “ and my feminine in- 
tuition tells me there is electricity in the air ! I 
think things are about to happen, dear ! ” 

“ What things? ” demanded Alton breath- 
lessly. 

“ I shall wait up awhile,” continued she, 
playfully stroking his tall head in passing, “ and 
if you should have anything of importance to 
tell me, you know where to find me,” and she 
had vanished before the man was really aware of 
her departure. 


200 


CHAPTER FIFTEEN. 


PSTAIRS, Barbara, who had acci- 
dentally overheard, while passing 
around the balcony, most of the con- 
versation between Fordyce and his 
step-mother, was hurrying with all 
the speed her trembling fingers would allow, 
into the lavender gown which she had ruthlessly 
snatched from the trunk the moment she en- 
tered her room. She fastened it as well as she 
could, then drew a filmy scarf over her shoulders 
to hide all discrepancies, clasped her one letter 
from Mrs. Fordyce in her hand, and ventured 
to peep timidly over the railing. Yes, — 
Mrs. Fordyce was gone, and Alton stood with 
his back to her, deep in thought, gazing down 
into the fire and entirely oblivious to his sur- 
roundings. 

Barbara hesitated no longer. Her heart 
seemed to be trying to knock its way out through 
her side and her face was radiant as she glided 
quietly down the stairs and gently laid her hand 
on Alton’s arm. 



201 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


He started, and gazed down on the little 
figure in the well-remembered gown as if she 
was a visitor from some other world. As his 
mind took in her exalted expression as well as 
her costume, and the letter in her hand, he 
demanded, 

“ What do you mean by turning into a 
dream-princess again, young lady? ” 

“ Please don’t tease me,” returned the girl 
with a tremor in her low voice. “ I have a lot 
of things to tell you, and you must listen 
patiently, until I am quite done, — and you 
mustn’t touch me! ” 

“ Barbara ! ” Alton spoke sternly, and in 
rather a hurt tone. “ Haven’t I always re- 
spected your wishes in that matter? ” 

“ Oh dear! Now I have begun all wrong! 
I mean just that you might wish to do it — and 
that I might let you — and it would spoil what 
I have to do — you see? ” 

“ Mm-m-m. Yes, I see,” assented the man 
slowly. 

“ Now, please sit down on this seat, and I’ll 
sit here where I can see you. But first, I ought 
to tell you that I heard most of your conversa- 
tion a while back, — unintentionally, it is true — 
but the fact still remains that I did hear it.” 


202 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ How much did you hear? ” inquired 
Alton through set teeth. “Not what I said 
about — ” 

“About a hell on earth? Yes, I did,” she 
replied in a hushed voice, — then noting his look 
of horror she hurried on, “ but please don’t 
worry over that, — it was perfectly all right, — 
and if I had not been such a selfish little wretch 
I would have had this talk with you before this ! 
Sh-h-h! ” as Alton tried to speak to her. 
I’m going to talk now, — and you are to 
listen ! ” 

“ Barbara,” broke in Alton, determinedly, 
“ I will speak! If you are trying to tell me 
what I most wish to hear — let me help you out, 
can’t I?” 

Barbara laid a cool palm for an instant 
against his lips and answered solemnly, 

“ I know you would do it all for me, — but 
I can’t let you. I ^ust must do it myself! 
Supposing it should be what you say you most 
wish to hear? What of it? A thing isn’t 
worth giving unless it is just a little bit hard to 
give, is it? Now, first here is the letter I prom- 
ised to show you some day.” 

Alton glanced over it in complete silence. 
It read — 


203 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


My dear little Barbara — 

You must let me call you that, 
especially as I am writing to wel- 
come you into the family. Of course 
you can guess that we were greatly 
surprised at the news of Alton’s 
marriage, but he has sent us such 
glowing accounts of you that we are 
all anxious to get you home among 
ourselves. Persuade the boy to bring 
you home as soon as possible, where 
you will find a hearty welcome await- 
ing you, and where we will all do 
our best to Insure your future happi- 
ness. Alton Is a dear fellow, as you 
will learn to know when you have 
seen more of him, and from his let- 
ters I gather that you have come to 
mean the world and all to him. He 
told me about your mutual promises, 
and I have no comment to make — 
save onel If you are not learning 
to love him as he deserves — if, when 
you are older, you are ever going to 
demand your freedom, — then, for 
his sake, as well as your own, — take 
it now I Otherwise you will wreck a 
life of wonderful promise and break 
a heart whose sterling worth you can- 
not possibly know as do I who have 
cared for him for over twenty-five 


204 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


years! He is one of the Lord‘s 
Anointed, and any girl who has so 
completely won the love of a man of 
such high ideals, — such a true- 
hearted, clean-minded man, and one 
whose sense of honor is as high above 
most of us as are the stars above his 
head, — such a girl must be a truly 
lovable girl, and I am waiting anx- 
iously to get you where I can know 
you well! Remember, we are all 
waiting to give you a royal welcome, 
and come to us soon. 

Believe me, dear, yours, as well 
as Alton’s 

Mater. 


Barbara, watching him intently, saw his 
countenance soften as he read, then a shamed 
expression come over his face as he came to the 
outright praise of himself, and he handed it 
back to her with the remark, — 

“ The Mater’s a brick, but she put it on a 
little bit too thick about me. I’m a mere man, 
— not a ‘ little tin god ’ you know, Barbara.” 

The girl ignored his bantering remark and 
tossed the letter on the seat beside her, saying, 
” Next! You remember asking me what I did 
305 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


with the money you gave me to spend in Salt 
Lake City? ” 

“Yes — and you didn’t wish to tell me.” 

“ Why didn’t you insist upon knowing? ’’ 

“ Why on earth should I? I gave it to you 
to spend as you liked I ’’ 

“ Pretty soon I will show you what I bought 
with it ! But now — do you really and truly 
care for me as your step-mother said, a while 
ago, Alton? ’’ 

“ God knows, I do, little girl,’’ returned the 
man, resting his elbows on his knees and bury- 
ing his face in his hands to shut out the trans- 
figured look on the one before him. “ I care 
more than you will ever know, I fearl ’’ 

“ How much do you care? ’’ persisted Bar- 
bara, softly. 

“ How much? ’’ repeated the harassed fel- 
low, slowly. “ Dear child, — I care enough 
so that if you would be happier away from me, 
I could let you go from my sight this moment, 
for all time, and try to rejoice that your life 
was your own, to mould as you willed. But 
oh ! It would be hard I ’’ 

The smothered groan which escaped For- 
dyce’s lips wrung the girl’s heart and she made 
haste to finish her share of the episode. 

206 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ Do you remember this gown? ” she asked. 
Without raising his head the answer came. 
“ Do you think I could forget? You have 
never worn it since and I have sometimes won- 
dered if I had made you hate it? ” 

“ No I I vowed, that night, never to put it 
on again until — well, until this evening, for 
instance ! And now — ” she flung a roguish 
look at his bowed head. “ Now, would you 
like to fasten me up — all up, this time, Alton ? ” 
The man’s hands twitched, and he rose and 
faced her with a look of determination upon his 
handsome countenance. 

“ Barbara, please — please don’t play with 
me 1 It isn’t like you, — and I can’t stand much 
more of it I Tell me just what you are trying 
to make me understand, — but, for God’s sake, 
don’t tempt me to break my word of honor to 
you, dear! If you only knew — ” 

“ Perhaps I do know — more than you 
think, Alton dear! Do you see this? ” and she 
drew the long chain from her neck and laid the 
locket in the man’s hand. The little trinket was 
warm from its nest above her heart, and the 
big Englishman’s fingers trembled visibly as he 
turned it over and over, searching for the open- 
ing. 


207 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ You must cut the rivet,” breathed Bar- 
bara. “ I had it fixed so no one but you or I 
could open it! Please hurry and cut it! ” 

Alton sank back upon the couch, intent upon 
the opening of the article which he held, while 
the girl dropped to her knees beside him, and 
waited breathlessly for the moment of its reve- 
lation. At last there was a click, as the hinge 
gave way under the energy of the attack, and a 
folded paper fell into the waiting hand. 

“ Open it ! ” commanded Barbara, kneeling 
wide-eyed and fearless, close to Alton’s side. 
As the thin paper was gradually flattened out a 
change came over the man. 

“ Why, — it is my letter — to you — on the 
train! What does this mean? ” 

His hand closed like a vise on the softly- 
rounded shoulder nearest him from which the 
scarf had fallen. “ Barbara, — it can only 
mean one thing! Tell me quickly, dear — 
don’t keep me in suspense ! Oh, my dear little 
girl, do you care? ” 

“ Now, you see why I wore the gown, Alton 
dear,” breathed Barbara, tremulously, in a voice 
hardly above a whisper, laying her cheek against 
the brown hand clutching her shoulder. What 
else she started to say he did not wait to hear, 
ao8 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


for with one swoop he gathered her into his 
arms and retired with her into the comer of the 
deep couch, to hold her close to his heart and 
kiss and kiss her as he had so many times 
dreamed of doing, and to whisper many endear- 
ing words into the ear of the girl whom a great 
and chivalrous love had awakened to her 
“ crown of womanhood.” 

After waiting in her room until nearly mid- 
night, wondering why Alton did not come, and 
after fidgeting over his delay as long as her 
usually healthy nerves would stand the strain, 
Mrs. Fordyce passed along the balcony to see if 
any light betokened her boy’s presence in his 
room. Seeing none, she was about to pass on 
to Barbara’s door when she happened to glance 
over the railing — and stood transfixed at the 
picture which met her eyes. 

In the deep sofa-corner, the firelight revealed 
two figures, — one, a bulky form in the conven- 
tional black and white of masculine evening 
attire, and in the arms of this figure rested snugly 
what seemed a mere doll in filmy lavender drap- 
eries, — the small head was pillowed on the man’s 
broad shoulder, — both his arms were locked 
tightly about the slender form, — one of the 


14 


209 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


“ doll’s ” own exquisite arms was thrown up 
about the man’s neck, — and both were sleeping, 
— while on the two faces the watcher could read 
a perfect trust and understanding. 

“It’s come at last!” breathed Mrs. For- 
dyce, as she hurried down to assure herself that 
no one was stirring below-stairs. Having in- 
vestigated and satisfied herself that everyone 
was safely in bed, — or at least, upstairs, — she 
was about to retire to her own room when she 
was seized with a sudden idea. The two who 
had fallen asleep so unintentionally before the 
fire, looked as if they were asleep to stay for 
some time at least, and how could she be sure 
that they would not be discovered by some stupid 
servant, — the butler, for instance, if he should 
chance to be down unusually early to air out the 
house after the storm? 

With a very tender little smile she stole back 
to the side of the sleepers, — laid a soft, light 
comfortable over them, — and betook herself to 
a point of vantage in the passage, armed with a 
book, in order that no prying eye might come 
upon the little tableau which had brought the 
happy, sympathetic tears to her own eyes when 
she had first taken in its full significance. 


210 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


So she sat, the remainder of the night, alter- 
nately reading and dreaming, until she realized 
with a start that the first faint streaks of light 
were beginning to show at the eastern windows. 
While she was looking out at the misty, gray 
world below her she heard the first sound from 
the lounge, — a gentle stir, and the rustle of 
silken draperies, as their owner evidently tried 
to efface the effects of her involuntary siesta. 
Then she heard Alton’s voice speak Barbara’s 
name in a tone which made her long to hug them 
both, — then, 

“ I say, darling, — how the dickens do you 
suppose this comforter came — ” 

“ Hush, hush, ‘dear,” returned Barbara, with 
a little gurgle of laughter. 

At the sound, Mrs. Fordyce hurried softly 
away to her room to indulge in some sleep, but 
more reveries, until the usual nine o’clock break- 
fast hour. 

Several hours later she was descending 
demurely and innocently to the breakfast room, 
all traces of her night’s vigil effaced, when, from 
the huge south veranda, through the wide open 
door came a rush of feet and the silvery ripple 
of Barbara’s laughter, — and she found herself 
waylaid by both Alton and his wife, with eyes 


2II 


A MODERN KNIGHT 


alight and the beauty of the new-born morning 
in their countenances. Before she could say a 
word to them, her hands were seized, her lips 
effectually sealed with kisses, and she heard 
two happy voices exclaiming, close to her ears — 
“ Good morning. Mater darling, — isn’t it 
just the most glorious world? ” 


THE END. 


212 













One copy del. to Cat. Div. 

DEC 20 19' i 
JAH 3 1912 





